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BR  305  .W32  1911 
Wace,  Henry,  1836- 
Principles  of  the 
Reformation  practical  and 


PRINCIPLES   OF   THE  \^^ 

REFORMATION^ 

PRACTICAL   AND    HISTORICAL 

THE  VERY  REV.  HENRY  WAGE  D.D. 
DEAN    OF    CANTERBURY 


AMERICAN   TRACT   SOCIETY 

150  NASSAU   STREET,  NEW  YORK 


CONTENTS 

Preface v 

The  First  Principles  of  Protestantism   ...        i 

The    course    of   Protestant    Theology    in    the 

Sixteenth  Century 76  "^ 

The  Primary  Principles  of  Luther's  Life  and 
Teaching 154 

Some  urgent  points  in  the  Controversy  at  the 
present  time : 

1.  The  Gospel  and  the  Remission  of  Sins  206 

2.  The    Sacrificial    aspect    of    the    Holy 
Communion 222 

3.  The  true  authority  in  matters  of  Chris- 
tian Faith  and  practice 236 


PREFACE 


I  have  ventured  to  collect  these  studies  in 
the  history  and  the  practical  principles  of  the 
Reformation,  in  the  hope  that  they  may  do 
something  to  promote  a  better  appreciation 
among  us  of  the  depth  and  grandeur  of  that 
great  movement.  They  are  the  result  of  many 
years'  study  of  the  v^ritings  of  Luther,  and  of 
the  chief  sources  in  which  the  course  of  the 
movement  is  to  be  seen ;  and  I  hope  that  they 
v^ill  be  found  to  indicate  some  of  the  deep 
springs  in  human  thought  and  experience 
which  brought  a  new  life  to  the  Christian 
Church  and  to  Europe  at  that  time. 

Like  all  great  truths  of  a  spiritual  and  moral 
character,  those  of  the  Reformation  will  always 


vi  PREFACE 

be  liable  to  misunderstandings,  and  will  always 
encounter  deadly  opposition  in  some  quarters. 
The  Roman  Catholic  Church,  with  its  griev- 
ous perversions  of  Christian  truth,  does  but 
exhibit  in  an  extreme  form  permanent  ten- 
dencies of  human  nature,  and  we  may  always 
have  to  contend  against  similar  influences. 
But  the  only  effectual  method  for  resisting 
them  is  to  maintain  before  the  minds  of  men 
and  women,  in  full  force,  the  momentous 
realities  and  the  profound  truths  from  which 
the  Reformation  drew  back  the  Medieval  veil. 
I  believe  that  those  realities  and  truths  lie  at 
the  very  foundation  of  the  spiritual  life  and 
the  moral  force  of  our  people,  and  that  the 
Church  will  command  confidence  in  pro- 
portion as  she  teaches  the  cardinal  truths  of 
Christian  faith  in  the  light  of  those  principles. 
In  the  following  pages  Luther  and  the  great 
Reformers  will  speak  in  great  measure  for 
themselves,  and  I  have  confidence  that  in  pro- 
portion as  they  are  heard,  they  will  command 


PREFACE  vii 

the  gratitude  and  the  allegiance  of  Christian 

thought  and  belief. 

I   have   ventured   to   add   three   papers,    in 

which  some  urgent  controversies  of  the  present 

time  are  considered  in  the  light  of  the  same 

principles. 

H.  Wage. 


THE   FIRST   PRINCIPLES   OF 
PROTESTANTISM 


I 


In  September  1896  Archbishop  Benson  of 
Canterbury  paid  a  visit  to  Ireland,  and  at  the 
first  public  meeting  he  attended,  held  in  Dublin 
in  aid  of  the  restoration  of  Kildare  Cathedral, 
he  saw  opposite  the  platform  a  motto,  which 
described  the  Church  of  Ireland  as  "  Catholic, 
Apostolic,  Reformed,  and  Protestant."  He 
took  occasion  to  say  that  we,  in  England,  have 
not  been  careful  enough  to  teach  our  children 
and  the  mass  of  our  people  the  history  of  the 
Church  of  England.  "  I  hope,''  he  said,  "  we 
have  awakened  lately  to  this  matter,  and  we 
are  now  intending  to  do  it  far  more  thoroughly. 
To  you,"  he  added,  "  the  appeal  comes  most 
strongly,  and  you  cannot  justify  those  four 
words,   '  Catholic/   '  Apostolic,'    '  Reformed,' 


2  THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST 

and  '  Protestant,'  unless  you  teach  everybody 
you  have  to  do  with  '  why  you  are  what  you 
are.'  "  On  October  the  9th,  two  days  before 
his  death,  he  attended,  in  the  Ulster  Hall, 
Belfast,  the  last  public  meeting  in  which  he 
took  part,  and  he  recurred  to  the  same  thought 
in  very  emphatic  and  impressive  words.  "  I 
reciprocate,"  he  said,  "  with  my  whole  soul 
your  most  earnest  desire  that  intercourse  be- 
tween our  Churches  should  be  constant  and 
complete ;  that,  as  we  look  each  other  more 
in  the  face,  we  will  know  each  other  the 
better,  and  live  equally  in  that  true  faith  and 
fear  of  God  which  I  saw  characterised  by  a 
motto  at  Dublin — the  faith  taught  by  that 
Church,  which  is  at  once  Apostolic,  Catholic, 
Reformed,  and  Protestant.  There  was  not 
one,"  he  proceeded,  "  of  those  words  that 
could  be  spared  ;  and  if  ever  it  was  necessary, 
if  ever  we  began  to  doubt  whether  it  was 
necessary,  to  lay  so  much  emphasis  upon  that 
last  word  " — the  word  Protestant — "  I  think 
that  events  which  have  been  occurring  in  the 
last  few  weeks,  and  the  tone  which  has  been 
adopted  towards  this  primeval  Church  of  Ire- 
land and  England,  are   things  which  warn  us 


THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST  3 

that  that  word  is  not  to  be  forgotten."  He  was 
referring  to  the  Pope's  Encyclical  respecting 
English  Orders.  "  No/'  he  added,  "  it  is  not 
a  word  to  be  forgotten  ;  but  it  is  a  word  to  be 
understood — a  word  which  must  not  be  used 
as  a  mere  earthly,  secular  war-cry.  Those  are 
words  which  have  a  deep  meaning  for  our 
children,  which  we  should  try  to  penetrate, 
even  better  than  now,  and  which  we  should 
hand  down  to  them  to  be  cherished  forever."^ 
There  are  misconceptions  now  prevalent 
respecting  the  meaning  of  the  word  Protestant^ 
which  render  peculiarly  necessary  such  an 
endeavour  to  penetrate  its  meaning  better 
as  Archbishop  Benson  desired.  A  clergyman 
of  great  authority  once  spoke  of  "  the 
disastrous  notion  that  we  live  in  negations,  as 
Protestants,  but  are  unable,  or  afraid,  to  put 
forth  positive  truth  as  Catholics."  It  must  be 
supposed  by  any  one  who  uses  such  language 
that  Protestantism  consists  in  protesting  against 
error,  and  particularly  against  the  errors  of  the 
Church  of  Rome.      This  misapprehension  of 

■^  '  Archbishop  Benson  in  Ireland  :  a  Record  of  his  Irish 
Sermons  and  Addresses,  1896.'  London,  1896.  Pp.  26, 
27,  no,  III. 


4  THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST 

the  meaning  of  the  word  has  probably  been 
fostered  by  an  unfortunate  expression  of 
Burke,  in  his  letter  to  Sir  Hercules  Langrishe 
in  1792.  In  that  letter  he  urges,  in  some 
most  instructive  observations,  that  the  settle- 
ment at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  did  not 
bind  the  nation  barely  to  a  Protestant  religion, 
but  to  "  the  Protestant,  Reformed  religion,  as 
it  is  established  by  law^."  The  sovereign,  says 
Burke,  by  that  settlement,  "  may  inherit  the 
Crown  as  a  Protestant,  but  he  cannot  hold  it, 
according  to  law,  without  being  a  Protestant 
of  the  Church  of  England."  In  other  words, 
'  Protestant '  is  an  indispensable  qualification 
of  the  religion  which  the  sovereign  of  England 
is  bound  to  profess,  but  it  is  only  a  qualification, 
and  the  substance  of  that  religion  is  the 
Catholic  form  of  the  Christian  religion  as 
established  by  law  among  us.  But  in  the 
course  of  these  important  observations  he  threw 
out  the  oh'ter  dictum  that  "  a  man  is  certainly 
the  most  perfect  Protestant  who  protests  against 
the  whole  Christian  religion."  So  that  the 
idea  to  which  Burke  has  thus  helped  to  give 
currency  is  that  Protestantism  is,  at  all  events 
in  general,  a  protesting  against  something,  and 


THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST  5 

in  particular  against  more  or  less  of  the  religion 
taught  by  the  Church  of  Rome.  In  other 
words,  it  would  thus  be  essentially  a  negative 
attitude  of  mind. 

Now,  let  us  observe,  in  the  first  place,  that 
such  an  interpretation  of  the  word  is  incon- 
sistent with  its  Latin  derivation.  It  is  a  post- 
Augustan  word,  and  is  said,  in  one  of  the  best 
dictionaries,  to  mean  "  to  declare  publicly,  to 
bear  witness,  to  testify,  and  so  to  protest."  It 
seems  particularly  important,  in  connection 
with  its  historical  use,  to  notice  that  this  is  its 
meaning  when  employed  by  a  jurist  like 
Ulpian  ;  as,  for  instance,  in  the  phrase,  "  quippe 
protestantur  pietatis  gratia  se  id  facere."  Ac- 
cording to  Dr  Johnson,  the  predominant  mean- 
ing of  the  word,  as  used  in  English,  is  of  the 
same  character.  To  protest^  he  says,  is  "to 
give  a  solemn  declaration  of  opinion,  or  resolu- 
tion ;"  and  protestation  is  "  a  solemn  declaration 
of  resolution,  fact,  or  opinion."  This  is  the 
primary  meaning  of  the  word.  But,  of  course, 
such  a  protestation  may  be  made  in  opposition 
to  some  other  declaration  or  act,  and  so  the 
noun  protest^  says  Dr  Johnson,  had  come  to 
mean  "  a  solemn  declaration  of  opinion,  com- 


6  THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST 

monly  against  something,  as,  the  Lords  published 
a  protest."  But  the  primary  and  predominant 
idea  of  the  word  remains  a  public  declaration 
and  attestation — -a  declaration  and  attestation 
of  a  truth  and  a  resolve.  "  But  to  your 
protestation,"  says  Shakespeare,  in  the  'Winter's 
Tale,'  "let  me  hear  what  you  profess."  It  is, 
in  fact,  apart  from  the  special  association  now 
in  question,  a  great  word  in  our  language,  for 
which,  perhaps,  no  substitute  could  be  found 
to  express  a  solemn  declaration  of  conviction 
or  belief. 

Such  being  the  general  meaning  and  use  of 
the  word,  let  us  turn  to  consider  its  application 
in  that  religious  sense  with  which  we  are 
immediately  concerned.  The  better  under- 
standing of  the  word  which  Archbishop  Benson 
desired  will  probably  be  best  promoted  by  a 
historical  consideration  of  the  circumstances 
under  which  it  arose,  and  of  the  principles 
which  it  originally  implied.  The  use  of  the 
word  in  this  religious  sense  dates  from  the 
second  Diet  of  Spires,  held  in  March  and 
April  1529.^    To  appreciate  what  then  passed, 

^  For  what  passed  at  this  diet,  see  Julius  Ney's  ^Geschichte 
des  Reichstages  zu  Speier  im  Jahre  1526,'  Hamburg,  1880  ; 


THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST  7 

we  must  bear  in  mind  that  by  the  Edict  of  the 
Diet  of  Worms  of  i  5  2 1  Luther  had  been  placed 
under  the  ban  of  the  Empire,  and  his  adherents 
were  to  be  seized  and  their  goods  confiscated. 
The  Emperor  accordingly,  in  his  hereditary 
dominions,  repressed  by  force  all  movements  in 
support  of  him,  and  expected  the  same  course 
to  be  taken  in  the  dominions  of  the  other 
princes  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire.  But 
there  were  several  of  those  princes,  like  the 
Duke  of  Saxony,  who  were  not  prepared  to 
carry  this  edict  into  effect,  and  the  Emperor 
was  too  much  engaged  in  foreign  wars  and 
enterprises  to  be  able  to  enforce  the  observance 
of  the  Edict  upon  them.  The  consequence 
was  that  Luther's  opinions  spread,  and  his  cause 
gained  more  adherents  from  year  to  year.  But 
when,  in  1526,  the  Emperor  summoned  the 
first  Diet  of  Spires,  he  hoped  to  bring  this 
confusion  to  an  end,  and,  as  he  said,  "  he 
desired  to  restore  the  empire  again  to  a  happy 
unity" — words  characteristic  of  thoughts  which 
have  been   prominent  in  the   minds  of  rulers 

and  his  short  narrative  in  ^  Schriften  fur  das  deutsche  Volk,' 
entitled,  "  Die  Protestation  der  Evangelischen  Stande,' 
Halle  a/S,  1890. 


8  THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST 

from  Constantine  downwards.  But  the  princes 
who  were  on  the  side  of  the  reformed  doctrines 
did  not  scruple  to  bring  their  preachers  to 
Spires  ;  and  though  the  churches  were  closed 
to  them,  they  preached  day  by  day  in  the  inns 
in  which  the  reformed  princes  lodged,  and 
numbers  of  people  came  to  hear  them.  Mean- 
while the  Pope  quarrelled  with  the  Emperor, 
and  it  thus  became  impracticable  to  carry 
through  a  strong  papal  policy  in  the  Diet.  It 
was  therefore  thought  better  to  temporise,  and 
it  was  resolved  to  send  a  special  deputation  to 
the  Emperor,  begging  him  to  return  to  Ger- 
many, which  he  had  left  in  1521,  and  to  take 
measures  for  the  speedy  summoning  of  a  free 
General  Council  on  German  soil,  or  at  least  a 
Provincial  Council,  to  decide  the  ecclesiastical 
questions  at  issue.  But  until  such  a  Council 
was  summoned,  every  authority  in  the  Empire 
was  to  be  at  liberty  "  to  live,  to  govern,  and 
generally  to  act,  as  each  might  hope  and  trust 
to  answer  for  himself  before  God  and  the 
Imperial  Majesty."  In  other  words,  each 
State,  each  prince,  or  each  free  city  was  to  be 
left  at  liberty  to  carry  out  the  Worms  Edict 
or  not,  on  its  own  responsibility  to  God  and 


THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST  9 

the  Emperor.  Thus  already,  in  the  first  Diet 
of  Spires,  the  principle  is  recognised,  though 
only  temporarily,  that,  in  matters  of  faith  and 
religion,  governing  authorities  must  be  left  to 
act  on  their  own  responsibility,  and  were  not 
to  be  compelled  by  force  to  carry  into  effect, 
in  those  matters,  a  law  which  had  been  laid 
down  by  the  supreme  authority. 

It  was  the  same  principle,  in  substance, 
which  was  destined  to  receive  a  more  formal 
and  permanent  assertion  in  the  second  Diet  of 
Spires,  summoned  in  1529.  The  situation 
had  become  much  more  alarming  for  the  Re- 
formed States.  A  good  understanding  had  been 
established  between  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope; 
and,  in  a  treaty  made  the  same  year  between 
them,  the  Emperor  and  his  brother  Ferdinand, 
King  of  Bohemia  and  Hungary,  pledged  them- 
selves "  to  use  all  possible  endeavours  to  resist 
the  pestilential  disease  of  Lutheranism,  and  to 
bring  back  to  the  true  Christian  Church  those 
who  were  in  error.  "  There  was  no  sign, 
indeed,  at  the  opening  of  the  Diet,  that  the 
princes  thus  denounced  were  the  least  disposed 
to  acknowledge  themselves  in  error.  They 
bore  on  the  arms  displayed  at   their    several 


lo  THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST 

quarters  the  initial  letters  of  the  words  which 
had  become  their  watchword,  "  Verbum  Domini 
manet  in  JEternum  " — "  The  word  of  the  Lord 
endureth  for  ever  "  ;  and  again,  in  spite  of  a 
direct  remonstrance  from  the  Emperor's  brother 
and  representative,  their  preachers  were  heard, 
day  by  day,  in  their  own  residences,  by  crowds 
of  people.  The  opening  communication  from 
the  Emperor  commenced  with  a  reference  to 
the  danger  with  which  the  Empire  was  then 
threatened  by  the  Turks,  and  implicitly  re- 
proached the  Reforming  States,  by  saying  that 
the  errors  in  the  Christian  faith  had  hitherto 
prevented  a  unanimous  resistance  to  this  common 
enemy.  But  the  Emperor  went  on  to  declare, 
more  particularly,  his  extreme  displeasure  with 
these  errors,  and  his  determination,  as  the 
supreme  head  of  Christendom,  to  endure  them 
no  longer.  He  said  that  the  long-promised 
Council  might  soon  be  expected,  and  that  the 
Pope  would  gladly  promote  it.  But  mean- 
while, under  peril  of  the  ban  of  the  Empire,  he 
forbade  any  further  promotion  of  the  Reformed 
doctrines  and  practices.  He  complained  that 
the  Edict  of  the  previous  Diet  of  Spires  had 
been    used   against  the  interests  of  the   Holy 


THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST  ii 

Faith  ;  and,  in  the  exercise  of  his  supreme  im- 
perial authority,  he  declared  that  Edict  to  be 
null  and  void  ;  and  called  on  the  authorities  of 
the  Empire,  then  assembled  in  the  Second  Diet 
of  Spires,  to  adopt  an  edict  which  would  repress 
all  religious  innovations. 

The  consequence  was  that,  in  spite  of  strenu- 
ous resistance  on  the  part  of  several  influential 
princes,  supported  by  some  of  the  free  cities, 
the  Diet  at  length  adopted  a  resolution  with 
this  object.  It  declared  that  the  edict  of  the 
former  Diet,  according  to  which  every  one 
should  act,  in  regard  to  the  Edict  of  Worms,  as 
he  was  prepared  to  do  on  his  own  responsibility, 
had  been  misunderstood,  and  had  been  misused 
in  the  excuse  of  all  kinds  of  horrible  doctrines 
and  sects  ;  and  therefore  it  was  resolved  that 
those  who  had  hitherto  adhered  to  the  Edict  of 
Worms  should  continue  to  do  so  until  the 
forthcoming  Council,  and  should  require  their 
subjects  also  to  adhere  to  it.  In  other  States, 
in  which  the  new  doctrines  had  arisen,  and  in 
which  they  could  not  be  abolished  without  great 
disturbance,  inconvenience,  and  danger,  there 
should,  at  all  events,  be  no  further  innovations 
allowed  until  the  Council  met.  More  particularly. 


12  THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST 

doctrines  and  sects  which  were  injurious  to  the 
blessed  sacrament  of  the  true  Body  and  Blood 
of  our  Lord — a  phrase  which  referred  to  the 
doctrines  of  Zwingli  as  distinct  from  those  of 
Luther — should  not  be  permitted  by  the  author- 
ities of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  nor  allowed 
to  be  preached  ;  that  the  ofiSce  of  the  Holy 
Mass  should  not  be  suppressed,  and  that  in 
countries  where  the  new  doctrine  had  arisen, 
no  one  should  be  prevented  from  hearing  Mass. 
By  this  decision  of  a  majority  of  the  Diet, 
the  progress  of  the  Reformation  would  have 
been  brought  to  a  standstill.  It  was  to  be 
restrained  by  all  the  force  of  the  Empire,  even 
in  the  States  in  which  it  had  found  a  footing; 
and  while  in  all  the  Reformed  States  the  Mass 
was  to  be  allowed,  in  Roman  Catholic  States 
not  only  was  the  Reformed  worship  proscribed, 
but  any  propagation  of  Lutheran  doctrine  was 
to  be  prohibited.  Consequently,  the  States 
which  adopted  the  Reformed  belief  had  to 
consider  whether  they  would  submit  themselves 
to  the  will  of  the  majority  in  the  matter,  as 
they  were  called  upon  to  do  by  the  Emperor 
and  his  representatives,  and  so  acknowledge 
that  they  had  been  wrong  in  the  past,  and  were 


THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST  13 

not  free  to  act  on  their  own  convictions  in  the 
future.  They  came  to  the  conclusion  that  this 
was  impossible,  and  they  were  consequently 
under  the  necessity  of  repudiating  the  right  of 
the  Diet  to  exercise  any  such  coercive  author- 
ity over  them.  They  accordingly  drew  up, 
first  of  all,  on  April  19,  1529,  a  Protestation, 
and,  further,  on  the  22nd,  an  Instrumentum 
Appellationis^  presenting  their  protest  with 
greater  completeness.  This  is  a  very  long 
document,  but  its  substance  is  sufficiently  pre- 
sented by  Gieseler  in  the  following  passage.  ^ 
He  says  : — 

"In  the  great  'Instrumentum  Appellationis' 
the  previous  representations  of  the  Evangelical 
States,  and  their  appeal,  are  embodied.  They 
demand  that  the  previous  imperial  Edict  of 
I  526  should  remain  in  force,  since  otherwise  it 
would  be  difficult  for  peace  to  be  preserved  ; 
they  say  they  cannot  assent  to  the  observance 
of  the  Edict  of  Worms,  nor  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  Mass,  as  they  would  then  be  condemning 
their  own  doctrines.  In  all  other  points  of 
their  responsibility  they  declare  themselves 
ready  to  render  obedience  to  the  Emperor. 
^  Kirchengeschichte,  vol.  iii.  i,  p.  231  note.     Bonn,  1840 


14  THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST 

*  But  these,'  they  say, '  are  matters  which  touch 
and  concern  God's  honour,  and  the  salvation 
and  eternal  life  of  the  souls  of  each  one  of  us, 
and  in  which,  by  God's  command,  and  for  the 
sake  of  our  consciences,  we  are  pledged  and 
bound  to  regard  before  all  things  the  same  our 
Lord  and  God,  in  the  undoubting  confidence 
that  your  Royal  Serenity,  our  beloved  fellow 
Princes  and  the  others,  will  in  a  friendly  spirit 
hold  us  excused  that  we  are  not  one  with  you 
therein,  and  that  we  cannot  in  such  a  matter 
give  way  to  the  majority,  as  we  have  several 
times  been  urged  to  do  in  this  Diet,  especially 
having  regard  to  the  fact  that  the  Edict  of  the 
previous  Diet  of  Spires  specially  states,  in  the 
article  in  question,  that  it  was  adopted  by  a 
unanimous  vote,  and  in  all  honour,  equity,  and 
right,  such  a  unanimous  decision  can  only  be 
altered  by  a  similarly  unanimous  vote.  But 
besides  this,  in  matters  which  concern  God's 
honour  and  the  salvation  and  eternal  life  of  our 
souls,  every  one  must  stand  and  give  account 
before  God  for  himself;  and  no  one  can  excuse 
himself  by  the  action  or  decision  of  another, 
whether  less  or  more.  .  .  .'  Against  the  rejec- 
tion of  the  Zwinglian  doctrine  of  the  Holy 


THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST  15 

Communion  in  the  Imperial  Edict,  Luther  and 
Melanchthon  had  nothing  to  object  ;  but  the 
Landgrave,  with  Melanchthon's  assent,  managed 
that  a  protest  was  also  made  against  the  issue 
of  such  a  decision  by  the  Diet,  especially  as 
those  '  who  are  concerned  in  that  question 
have  not  been  summoned  nor  heard  ;  and  it  is 
a  matter  for  much  consideration  and  delibera- 
tion that  such  grave  and  weighty  articles  should 
be  handled  without  reference  to  the  forthcoming 
Council,  or  that  any  decision  or  order  should 
be  taken  upon  them  without  requisite  and 
fitting  audience  had  of  all  those  whom  the 
matter  affects.' 

This  appeal  is  made  'to  and  before  the 
Roman  Imperial  and  Christian  Majesty,  our 
most  gracious  Lord  ;  and  further,  to  and  before 
the  forthcoming  free  Christian  General  Council, 
before  our  National  Assemblies,  and  further, 
before  every  competent,  impartial,  and  Christian 
judge  of  these  matters. '  In  short,  the  burden 
of  this  Protest  is  aptly  summed  up  by  the 
eminent  Church  historian  Karl  von  Hase. 
"  The  Protest,"  he  says,^  "is  an  assertion  that 

^  Kirchengeschichte,  1891  ;  Third  Division,  first  part, 
p.  118. 


1 6  THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST 

there  are  obligations  against  which  no  positive 
legal  right  has  any  force  ;  or,  as  Minkwitz,  the 
Saxon  delegate  at  the  Diet,  expressed  it,  '  In 
matters  of  conscience,  there  can  be  no  question 
of  majorities  ' — '  In  Sachen  des  Gewissens  gibt  es 
keine  majoritdt. '  But  the  legal  foundation  of  the 
Protest  is  not  wanting,  and  is  twofold  :  i .  That 
a  decree  unanimously  passed  by  a  previous  Diet 
can  only  be  reversed  by  an  equally  unanimous 
consent.  2.  That  in  matters  which  concern 
God's  honour  and  the  salvation  of  our  souls, 
every  one  must  stand  for  himself.  This,"  adds 
Von  Hase,  "  is  precisely  the  point  in  which 
the  essence  of  Protestantism  consists." 

It  will  thus  be  apparent  what  is  the  spirit 
and  the  essence  of  this  momentous  declaration, 
from  which  the  title  of  Protestant  is  derived. 
Its  authors  were  not  then  taking  upon  them- 
selves to  make  any  protest,  either  general  or 
particular,  against  the  doctrines  of  the  Roman 
Church.  The  initiative,  in  the  proceedings 
of  the  Diet,  did  not  rest  with  them.  What- 
ever protest  there  was  in  a  negative  sense 
was  made  against  them.  They  were  denounced 
as  innovators  against  the  order  and  peace  of 
the  Church  and  the  concord  of  the   Empire, 


THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST  17 

and  they  were  threatened  with  forcible  control 
and  repression.  Upon  this  they  came  forward 
with  a  solemn  positive  protestation,  before  God 
and  the  Empire  and  the  Estates  of  Germany, 
that  they  had  acted  in  obedience  to  what  they 
believed  to  be  the  teaching  of  the  Word  of 
God,  which  was  the  supreme  authority,  and  in 
accordance  with  their  conscience,  and  that  they 
could  not  admit  the  right  of  a  majority  of  the 
Diet  to  coerce  or  control  them  in  such  a  matter. 
It  is  thus  the  first  assertion  by  public  author- 
ities of  the  principle  which  Luther  asserted  for 
himself,  as  an  individual,  at  the  Diet  of  Worms 
in  1 52 1,  when  he  declared  that  the  only 
authorities  which  he  recognised  as  having  a 
binding  obligation  upon  his  conscience  were 
the  Word  of  God  and  evident  reason. "  Unless,  " 
he  said,  "I  am  convinced  by  testimonies  of  the 
Scripture,  or  by  evident  reason — for  I  neither 
believe  the  Pope  nor  the  Councils  alone,  since 
it  is  clear  that  they  have  often  erred  and  con- 
tradicted one  another — I  am  overcome  by  the 
Scriptures  I  have  quoted,  and  my  conscience  is 
taken  captive  by  the  words  of  God,  and  I  neither 
can  nor  will  retract  anything,  since  it  is  neither 
safe  nor  right  to  act  against  conscience."     This 


1 8  THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST 

declaration,  of  the  duty  of  abiding  by  the 
authority  of  conscience,  under  the  supreme 
guidance  and  authority  of  the  Word  of  God, 
and  of  not  yielding  in  such  matters  to  any 
human  authority  or  majority,  was  carried  by 
the  Protest  of  Spires  a  step  farther  :  it  was 
extended  from  the  individual  to  the  community 
and  the  ruler  ;  the  right  and  the  duty  of  the 
independent  assertion  of  what  is  believed  to  be 
the  truth  in  religious  matters,  by  every  State 
and  every  Church,  was  publicly  claimed,  and, 
by  one  great  Protestation,  was  made  the  com- 
mencement of  a  new  order  of  things,  in  Church 
and  State. 

It  is,  indeed,  necessary  to  observe,  if  justice 
is  to  be  done  to  the  Princes  and  States  at 
Spires,  and  to  the  true  principle  of  the  Protest, 
that  no  general  or  easy  assertion  is  made  of 
what  is  called  "the  right  of  private  judgment.  " 
The  princes  do  not  claim  any  right  to  act 
at  once  for  themselves,  on  their  own  sole  and 
individual  judgment,  without  regard  to  any 
other  authority.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  im- 
portant to  notice  that  they  only  reserve  their 
liberty  of  action  until  the  matters  in  dispute 
can   be   considered  by   a   General,   or   even  a 


THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST  19 

Provincial,  Council.  No  doubt  the  principle 
involved  in  their  Protest,  as  in  that  of  Luther, 
precludes  them  from  regarding  themselves  as 
absolutely  bound  even  by  the  decrees  of  such 
a  Council.  They  would  still  have  to  consider 
v^hether  their  consciences  would  allow  them, 
under  the  supreme  authority  of  the  Word  of 
God,  to  submit  to  such  decisions  as  might 
be  made.  But  they  formally  acknowledge 
themselves  bound  to  consult  a  Council,  and 
it  is  only  in  the  last  resort  that  they  assert 
the  duty  of  independent  decision  and  action. 
Now,  it  is  one  thing  to  say  that  every  man 
has  a  right  to  judge  for  himself,  and  to  go 
his  own  way  in  religious  matters,  and  a  very 
different  thing  to  say  that  a  man  or  a  nation 
cannot  be  justly  required  to  follow  other 
people's  judgment,  and  to  go  the  way  pre- 
scribed to  them  by  others,  in  a  grave  matter  of 
conscience,  if,  after  appealing  to  the  highest 
existing  or  possible  authority,  they  are  still 
unable  to  satisfy  themselves  that  they  can  do 
what  is  asked  without  violating  their  duty 
to  God.  But  the  latter,  and  not  the  former, 
is  the  principle  of  which  the  Reforming 
princes  at  Spires  made  solemn  protestation,  and 


20  THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST 

it  is  in  this  that  the  essence  of  Protestantism 
consists. 

The  original  Protest,  in  short,  is  a  mean 
between  two  extremes — between  the  claim  of 
the  Roman  Church  for  the  absolute  submission 
of  all  consciences  to  her  authority,  and  the 
claim  of  the  extreme  parties  on  the  other  side 
for  exemption  in  matters  of  conscience  from 
deference  to  any  authority,  and  for  absolute 
individual  freedom.  The  principle  appears  to 
be  exactly  expressed  in  the  careful  statement  of 
Dr.  Hawkins  of  Oriel,  in  his  Bampton  Lectures.^ 
"  I  am  constrained,  "  he  says,  "  to  disallow  the 
claim  of  infallibility  and  absolute  authority, 
whether  advanced  in  behalf  of  any  particular 
Church,  or  of  the  Church  Universal  ;  of  the 
ancient  Church  in  the  period  of  her  comparative 
unity,  as  well  as  of  the  modern  Church  in  her 
state  of  sad  disunion;  yielding,  indeed,  to  use  the 
words  of  Dr.  Jackson, '  a  conditional  assent  and 
a  cautionary  obedience,  '  wherever  it  is  justly 
due  ;  but  never  in  any  case  conceding,  except 
to  the  original  messengers  of  revealed  truth, 
'  absolute  assent  and  unqualified  obedience.  '  " 
To  the  same   effect.    Dr.   Hawkins  adds   that 

^  Bampton  Lectures,  1840,  p.  200. 


THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST  21 

"  the  English  Church,  while  she  accepts  the 
decrees  of  the  four  first  Councils  in  matters  of 
faith,  nevertheless  confesses  that  '  General 
Councils  may  err  '  :  '  Wherefore,  '  she  adds, 
*  their  decrees  have  no  authority,  unless  it  may 
be  declared  that  they  be  taken  out  of  Holy 
Scripture  '  ;  and  while  she  acknowledges  that 
'  the  three  Creeds  ought  thoroughly  to  be 
received  and  believed,'  yet  does  she  not  presume 
to  mention  as  the  ground  for  her  belief  any 
consent  of  Fathers,  judgment  of  antiquity,  or 
authority  of  the  Universal  Church,  but  this 
only  basis  of  her  pure  and  Scriptural  faith  : 
'  For  they  may  be  proved  by  most  certain  i 
warrants  of  Holy  Scripture.  '  " 

The  Protest  of  Spires,  in  a  word,  has  justly 
given  its  designation  to  the  whole  reforming 
movement,  because  it  laid  down  the  principle 
without  which  no  action  of  individual  Churches 
in  favour  of  Reform  would  have  been  possible. 
It  was  the  indispensable  foundation  of  the 
system  of  National  Churches  ;  and  the  action 
of  Henry  VIII  was  as  much  based  on  the 
principle  of  the  Protest  of  Spires  as  was  the 
action  of  the  Duke  of  Saxony.  It  appears  a 
serious  mistake  to  say,  as  is  sometimes  done, 


22  THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST 

that,  in  throwing  off  the  Papal  supremacy, 
Henry  VIII  was  only  carrying  farther  a  prin- 
ciple which  the  Kings  of  England  had  always 
asserted,  as  against  the  Popes.  They  had 
asserted,  in  greater  or  less  degree,  the  indepen- 
dence of  what  we  may  call  their  administrative 
and  governing  authority.  But  they  had  never 
assumed,  as  Henry  VIII  did,  that  the  National 
Church  under  their  own  supremacy  had  power 
to  deal  with  matters  of  doctrine  on  its  own 
responsibility,  independently  of  the  authority 
of  the  Roman  Church  and  of  the  Pope.  In 
this  respect  Henry  VIII  was  far  more  Protes- 
tant than  his  daughter  Elizabeth.  He  went 
much  beyond  the  decree  of  Spires  ;  and  in 
Elizabeth's  time  English  statesmen  and  prelates 
fell  back  upon  its  moderate  and  guarded  posi- 
tion :  asserting,  indeed,  in  the  Articles  that,  in 
the  last  resort,  not  even  the  authority  of  a 
General  Council  can  bind  the  conscience,  but 
yielding,  as  Dr.  Hawkins  says,  "  a  cautionary 
obedience,"  as  far  as  possible,  to  such  authorities, 
and  exhibiting  an  earnest  desire  to  consult 
them  whenever  they  may  be  accessible.  Pro- 
testantism, therefore,  as  adopted  at  Spires,  and 
as  embodied  in  English  teaching  and  practice, 


THE  ORIGINAL  PROTEST  23 

does  not  consist  primarily  in  protesting  against 
particular  doctrines  or  practices  of  Roman 
theology  or  order,  nor  in  the  assertion  of  any 
unqualified  right  of  private  judgment.  It  is 
simply  a  solemn  assertion  of  that  fundamental 
right,  by  which  this  Church  and  nation  under- 
took, on  their  own  responsibility  before  God 
and  man,  to  reform  themselves,  and  by  which 
they  claim  to  act  for  themselves  in  matters  of 
faith  and  religion,  independently  of  any  such 
authority  as  is  claimed  by  the  see  of  Rome,  or 
even,  in  extreme  necessity,  of  any  supreme 
authority  in  the  Church  at  large. 


11. 


The  Protestation  at  Spires  answered  its  pur- 
pose. It  gave  the  protesting  States  a  firm 
principle  on  which  to  stand,  in  resisting  any 
attempt  to  suppress  by  force  the  reform  they 
had  introduced.  It  was  destined,  indeed,  of 
necessity,  to  work  itself  out  to  an  extent  on 
which  they  had  not  calculated.  For  the  pur- 
pose of  the  Princes  and  the  Councils  of  Free 
Cities  who  made  the  Protest,  the  unit  of 
resistance  to  the  supreme  authority   was  the 


24    FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION 

ruling  power  in  each  State  or  city,  and  they  did 
not  scruple  to  assert  their  own  authority  over 
the  individuals  who  were  under  their  govern- 
ment. But,  as  Luther's  own  example  had 
shown,  their  subjects  had  the  same  rights  of 
conscience  against  them  as  they  had  against  the 
Emperor  and  the  Diet,  and  they  found  in  due 
time  that,  in  their  resistance  to  the  Emperor, 
they  had  surrendered  some  of  their  own  power 
within  their  own  dominions.  The  practical 
effect,  in  the  long-run,  was  to  render  govern- 
ment in  religious  matters  a  question  of  com- 
promise between  the  various  forces,  individual 
and  governmental,  which  were  concerned  in 
the  matter.  Henceforth,  where  the  principles 
of  the  Protest  of  Spires  were  admitted,  no 
Government,  no  authority,  could  claim  the 
right  of  absolute  obedience.  But  some  obe- 
dience was  essential  for  the  conduct  of  human 
affairs,  and  the  problem  of  religious  government 
thus  became,  in  each  case,  the  practical  one  of 
ascertaining  the  limits  of  reasonable  obedience 
on  the  one  side,  and  of  reasonable  authority  on 
the  other.  The  Protest  set  the  various  religious 
forces  of  life  as  free  as  is  possible  under  the 
practical  condition  of  human  affairs  ;  and,  from 


FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION    25 

that  great  moment,  the  recognition  of  relative 
rights  between  the  governors  and  the  governed, 
and  their  mutual  adjustment,  has  been  the  law 
of  religious  organisation.  Even  the  Papacy 
and  the  Empire  hesitated  thenceforth  to  assert, 
or  at  least  to  practise,  an  unconditional  sove- 
reignty. The  principle  of  absolute  obedience 
had  to  take  refuge  in  a  new  Society,  that  of  the 
Jesuits,  which  at  length  succeeded  in  impress- 
ing its  spirit  on  the  Roman  Church.  On  the 
Protestant  side,  the  Calvinistic  organisation, 
which  soon  after  sprang  up,  exhibited  a  some- 
what similar  reaction  in  favour  of  the  principle 
of  obedience  to  authority.  The  Calvinistic 
conception  of  God,  as  an  absolute  ruler,  reflected 
itself,  as  the  conceptions  of  God's  character 
always  do,  upon  the  tone  of  thought,  and  the 
habits,  of  those  who  were  imbued  with  it;  and 
the  Calvinistic  Church  promoted  the  ideal  of  a 
theocratic  rule,  in  which  men  were  again  subject 
to  the  unbending  authority  of  the  Church.  But, 
nevertheless,  the  moderating  principle  of  the 
Spires  Protest  held  its  own,  and  made  its  way  ; 
and  a  just  balance  between  freedom  and  authority 
became,  in  an  increasing  degree,  especially  in 
England,  the  ideal  of  religious  government. 


26    FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION 

The  first  evidence  of  this  result  was  afforded 
by  the  Diet  of  Augsburg,  which  immediately 
followed,  in  1530,  the  Diet  of  Spires  of  the 
previous  year.  In  the  interval,  the  Emperor 
had  made  peace  with  the  Pope,  and  had  been 
crowned  by  him  in  Italy  ;  but  he  nevertheless 
found  himself  obliged  to  meet  the  Diet  in  a 
spirit  of  far  greater  moderation  than  he  had 
shown  at  Spires.  His  opening  communication 
desired  that  the  Diet  should  take  measures  for 
appeasing  the  religious  dissensions,  but  so  that 
every  one's  disposition,  opinion,  and  view 
should  be  heard  in  all  love  and  gentleness,  in 
order  to  bring  men  to  one  united  Christian 
truth,  to  conciliate  them,  and  to  put  aside 
everything  which  had  been  unjustly  charged 
against  either  side.  That  they  should  be  met 
in  this  spirit,  only  a  year  after  the  second 
Edict  of  Spires,  was  a  remarkable  triumph  for 
the  Protestant  States  ;  and  it  is  to  their  honour 
that  they  responded  with  a  similar  moderation. 
The  Emperor  made  public  demonstration  of 
his  own  adherence  to  the  old  faith  and  practice 
by  taking  part,  in  a  conspicuous  manner,  on 
the  day  after  he  arrived  at  Augsburg,  in  the 
procession   of  Corpus  Christi  ;   and   the  Pro- 


FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION    27 

testant  princes  similarly  exhibited  their  adher- 
ence to  their  own  principles  by  abstaining  from 
the  ceremony.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  they 
abstained  from  having  sermons  preached  under 
their  protection  by  their  own  preachers,  and 
submitted  to  the  Emperor's  direction  that  none 
but  persons  appointed  by  himself  should  be 
allowed  to  preach. 

But  above  all,  it  was  in  this  spirit  of  moder- 
ation that  they  proceeded  to  comply  with  the 
Emperor's  desire  that  a  statement  should  be 
presented,  to  him  and  the  Diet,  of  their  beliefs 
and  claims  in  the  religious  questions  at  issue. 
A  statement  for  this  purpose  had  been  the 
subject  of  much  careful  consideration  by  the 
Lutheran  theologians  ;  and,  in  consultation 
with  them,  it  was  ultimately  drawn  up  by 
Melanchthon,  and  adopted  by  the  great  majority 
of  them,  though  four  free  cities,  which  could 
not  subscribe  to  the  Lutheran  assertion  of  the 
real  presence  in  the  Holy  Communion,  present- 
ed a  separate  confession,  known  as  the  Confessio 
Tetrapolitana,  But  the  Confession  was  signed 
by  the  representatives  of  the  other  reforming 
States,  and  became  known  as  the  Augsburg 
Confession,  or  the   Confessio  Augustana,  and 


28    FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION 

has  ever  since  been  the  chief  symboHc  docu- 
ment of  the  Lutheran  Church.  As  the  Protest 
of  Spires  embodies  the  fundamental  principle 
of  public  and  private  action  by  v^hich  religious 
liberty  was  rendered  possible,  alike  for  nations 
and  for  individuals,  so  the  Augsburg  Confession 
embodies,  in  the  simplest  and  clearest  form, 
the  cardinal  theological  ideas  of  the  reforming 
movement.  Various  Churches  and  individuals, 
as  the  movement  proceeded,  adopted  variations 
of  opinion  from  it  on  special  points.  But  these 
variations,  whether  distinctively  Lutheran, 
Calvinistic,  or  English,  did  not  affect  the 
central  principles  from  which  the  whole  move- 
ment started  ;  and  those  principles  are  stated 
in  this  Confession  with  all  the  responsibility 
and  gravity  which  became  such  an  occasion. 
For  the  first  time,  in  the  face  of  Europe,  the 
Protestants  were  to  declare  the  truth  that  was 
in  them  ;  and  they  appreciated  the  obligation 
of  stating  that  faith  in  the  manner  which 
would  best  commend  it  to  the  consciences  alike 
of  their  adversaries  and  of  their  friends.  It  is 
here  that  Protestant  principles  should  be  studied, 
if  they  are  to  be  fairly  and  fully  appreciated. 
The  germinal  thoughts  and  experiences,   out 


FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION    29 

of  which  the  movement  sprang,  are,  of  course, 
more  vividly  exhibited  in  the  life  of  Luther, 
and  particularly  in  his  early  life,  and  his  ex- 
periences as  a  monk.  But  his  strong  personal 
character  gives  them  a  colour  which  is  apt  to 
lead  to  their  misapprehension  by  some  minds  ; 
whereas,  in  the  Confession  of  Augsburg,  these 
personal  peculiarities  are  eliminated,  and  the 
great  principles  stand  out  in  their  permanent 
meaning  and  order.  At  the  same  time,  the 
Confession  is  not  merely  a  formal  theological 
statement  like  our  Articles.  It  is  instinct  with 
the  deep  earnestness  and  anxiety  of  that  crit- 
ical moment,  when  it  was  felt  that  the  great 
spiritual  forces,  which  were  dividing  the  world, 
had  come  face  to  face  with  each  other  for  the 
final  issue. 

It  is,  in  the  first  place,  to  be  observed  that 
the  Reforming  states  express  their  readiness, 
and  even  anxious  desire,  to  discuss  amicably 
with  their  opponents  the  difi^erences  between 
them  ;  and  in  the  event  of  an  agreement  not 
being  eff^ected  in  the  Diet,  they  offer  to  lay 
their  cause  before  the  Council  which  had  been 
promised  by  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope.  To 
that  General  Council  as  well  as  to  the  Emperor, 


30    FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION 

they  had  already,  in  due  form  of  law,  made 
their  protestation  and  appeal  ;  and  to  that 
appeal,  they  say,  in  the  concluding  words  of 
their  preface  to  the  Emperor,  they  still  adhere, 
and  have  neither  the  intention  nor  the  power 
of  abandoning  it,  as  they  now  once  more 
solemnly  and  publicly  protest — de  quo  hie  etiam 
solenniter  et  pub  lice  protestamur.  At  the  conclusion 
of  the  Confession,  they  declare  that,  in  doctrine 
and  ceremonies,  nothing  is  received  among 
them  contrary  to  the  Scriptures  or  the  Catholic 
Church,  and  that  it  is  evident  they  have  most 
diligently  taken  care  that  no  new  or  impious 
dogmas  should  creep  into  their  Churches. 

In  another  connection  they  make  a  still 
more  remarkable  statement.  The  Confession 
is  divided  into  two  parts,  the  first  of  which 
gives  a  summary  of  the  doctrines  taught 
among  them,  and  the  second  mentions  certain 
abuses  which  prevailed  in  practice  in  the 
Church  of  their  day,  and  which  they  had 
removed  ;  and  with  respect  to  the  former  part 
— the  doctrines  they  teach — they  declare,  not 
only  that  their  doctrine  does  not  differ  from  that 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  but  that  it  does  not 
differ  from  that  of  the  Roman  Church.  "This," 


FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION    31 

they  say  in  Article  xxii.,  "is  a  general  summary 
of  the  doctrine  which  prevails  among  us,  in 
which  it  will  be  seen  that  there  is  nothing 
which  differs  from  the  Scriptures,  or  from 
the  Catholic  Church,  or  from  the  Roman 
Church,  as  far  as  is  known  from  writers. 
This  being  so,  it  is  a  harsh  judgment  to  claim 
that  we  should  be  considered  heretics.  The 
dissension  relates  to  some  abuses  which  have 
crept  into  the  Church  without  definite  author- 
ity, in  which,  even  if  there  were  some  diver- 
gence, nevertheless  it  might  be  hoped  that  the 
Bishops,  in  view  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  we 
have  now  made,  would  extend  some  toleration 
to  us  ;  for  even  the  Canons  are  not  so  harsh 
as  to  require  the  same  rites  everywhere,  nor, 
in  fact,  have  the  rites  of  all  Churches  ever 
been  quite  similar.  At  the  same  time,  among 
us  the  ancient  rites  are  in  great  measure  dili- 
gently preserved.  It  is  a  false  calumny  that  all 
ceremonies  and  all  old  institutions  are  abolished 
in  our  Churches.  On  the  other  hand,  it  has  been 
a  matter  of  public  complaint  that  certain  abuses 
prevailed  in  the  common  rites  ;  and  as  these 
could  not  be  approved  with  a  good  conscience, 
they  have  been  in  some  measure  corrected. " 


32    FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION 

It  is  apparent  from  these  solemn  statements 
that  the  first  Protestants — those  from  whom 
the  name  is  derived — were  most  earnest  and 
careful  in  claiming  a  Catholic  position.  They 
reiterate  again  and  again  that  their  Churches 
do  not  dissent  from  the  Catholic  Church  in 
any  single  article  of  faith.  They  not  only 
begin,  in  the  first  article  of  the  Confession,  by 
declaring  their  adherence  to  the  Nicene  sym- 
bol ;  they  claim  for  all  the  other  doctrines  they 
assert  that  they  are  part  of  the  ancient  Catholic 
faith.  It  is  still  more  remarkable  to  find  them 
claiming,  in  the  words  just  quoted,  that  there 
is  nothing  in  their  teaching  which  diff^ers  from 
that  of  the  Roman  Church,  "  so  far  as  it  is 
known  from  its  writers.  "  But  there  is  no 
reason  to  doubt  either  that  they  were  perfectly 
sincere  in  making  this  claim,  or  that  it  is 
capable  of  substantial  defence,  with  the  quali- 
fication they  annex  to  it,  of  judging  that  doc- 
trine by  authoritative  writings.  Our  own 
divine,  Dean  Field,  in  his  great  work  on  the 
Church,  maintains  a  similar  position  respecting 
Protestant  doctrine  in  his  day,  asserting  that 
the  best  divines  of  the  Roman  Church,  before 
the  Reformation,  were  in  agreement  with  the 


FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION    33 

Reformed  doctrines,  and  were,  as  he  says, 
Protestants  before  us,  and  that  the  doctrine  to 
which  the  Roman  Church  pledged  itself  at  the 
Council  of  Trent  represented  the  triumph  of 
an  arrogant  modern  faction.  But  even  if  this 
claim  be  a  mistaken  one,  if  it  overlooks,  at  all 
events,  the  steady  drift  of  opinion  in  the  later 
Middle  Ages,  the  fact  that  it  should  have  been 
so  clearly  asserted  serves  to  emphasise  the 
earnest  desire  of  the  Protestants  to  maintain 
their  unity  with  the  great  lines  of  Catholic 
tradition.  Accordingly  Canon  Dixon  points 
out,  in  his  History  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, that  the  use  of  the  word  "Protestant" 
in  England,  up  to  and  including  the  time  of 
the  Caroline  divines,  was  understood  to  include 
the  designation  of  Catholic,  and  that  Laud  and 
his  friends  called  themselves  Protestants,  as 
against  the  Puritans,  to  indicate  that  they  were 
Catholics.  ^     Protestantism,  in  the  great  charter 

^  He  says,  vol.  iv.  p.  221 :  "  The  word  Protestant  retained 
its  original  and  proper  meaning  in  England  (or  a  share  of  it) 
when,  in  the  next  century,  it  was  used  to  denote  the  High 
Church  or  Laudian  party  in  opposition  to  the  Puritans  ;  but 
unhappily  it  passed  into  vogue  at  last  as  the  opposite  not  of 
Papist  but  of  Catholic  :  in  which  abused  sense  it  is  now 
common  to  literature.     This  popular  and  literary  miscon- 


34    FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION 

of  its  foundation,  thus  bound  itself  up  with 
true  Catholicism,  and  any  teaching  which  is 
not  Catholic  is,  by  that  fact,  condemned  as  not 
truly  Protestant. 

But  this  being  so,  what,  it  must  be  asked, 
was  the  nature  of  the  difference  by  which,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  Europe  had  become  divided 
into  two  camps,  ranged  opposite  each  other, 
in  imminent  danger  of  nothing  less  than  civil 
war  ?  The  divergence  must  have  been  deep  and 
momentous  which,  in  the  space  of  little  more 
than  ten  years,  had  produced  so  profound  a 
division  in  Christendom.  The  answer  is  that, 
in  the  view  of  the  Reformers,  certain  cardinal 
truths  of  the  Catholic  faith  had  been  for  a  long 
time  ignored,  or  at  least  allowed  to  remain  in 
a  very  secondary  position,  and  that  the  revival 
of  these  truths,  or  the  reassertion  of  their  true 
position  and  importance,  had  necessarily  the 
effect  of  altering  the  balance  of  doctrine  and 

ception  has  reacted  on  the  history  of  the  Reformation  with 
stupefying  effect.  The  men  who  let  themselves  be  called 
Protestants,  but  were  never  weary  of  declaring  themselves 
Catholics,  have  been  thought  to  have  been  not  Catholic 
because  Protestant.  The  opposite  of  Catholic  is  not  Pro- 
testant but  heretic  ;  the  opposite  of  Protestant  is  not  Catholic 
but  Papist.  " 


FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION    35 

practice,  and  of  bringing  into  prominence 
aspects  of  Christian  belief,  and  Christian  prac- 
tice, which,  to  the  great  disadvantage  of 
Christian  life,  had  fallen  into  desuetude.  In 
order  to  apprehend  the  nature  of  this  alteration 
of  view,  or  point  of  view,  it  is  essential  to 
begin  where  the  Augsburg  Confession  begins. 
That  commencement  requires  very  careful 
consideration.  The  Confession  does  not  begin 
with  the  doctrine  of  Justification  by  Faith,  nor 
with  the  assertion  of  any  special  views  respect- 
ing the  Sacraments  or  the  Church.  But 
immediately  after  the  first  article,  De  Deo^ 
declaring  the  adherence  of  the  Reformers  to 
the  Nicene  Creed,  it  lays  down  their  teaching 
respecting  Original  Sin.  That  is  the  real 
point,  from  which  the  whole  movement  of 
thought  and  spiritual  experience  starts.  It  is 
very  characteristic  of  the  situation  of  the 
moment  that,  not  only  does  the  Confession  not 
commence  as  our  Articles  do — after  the  intro- 
ductory ones  which  correspond  to  the  Augsburg 
Article  De  Deo — with  declaring  that  the  Scrip- 
ture is  the  sole  Rule  of  Faith,  but  the  Confession 
contains  no  article  at  all  on  that  subject.  The 
Reformers  practically  assume  that  the  Rule  of 


26    FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION 

Faith  to  which  they  appeal  is  the  same  as  that 
of  their  adversaries,  and  they  do  not  think  it 
necessary  to  put  prominently  forward  the  sole 
supremacy  of  the  Scriptures.  The  circumstance 
that  the  controversial  part  of  our  Articles,  in 
distinction  from  the  Augsburg  Confession, 
commences  with  the  assertion  of  the  sufficiency 
of  the  Scriptures,  seems  due  to  the  fact  that, 
before  the  Articles  were  composed,  the  Roman 
Church,  in  the  Council  of  Trent,  had  laid 
down,  as  the  foundation  of  her  whole  position, 
the  co-ordinate  authority  of  tradition  with  the 
Scriptures.  The  Roman  controversialists  had 
discovered,  after  the  first  twenty  years  of  their 
discussion  with  the  Protestants,  that  they 
could  not  hold  their  ground  on  the  basis  of  the 
Scriptures  alone  ;  and  accordingly,  the  first 
thing  they  did,  in  the  Council  of  Trent,  was 
to  assert  the  traditions  of  the  Church  as  a  part 
of  the  Rule  of  Faith.  This  "  formal "  principle 
became  of  more  and  more  importance  as  the 
controversy  proceeded  ;  but,  at  the  stage  we 
are  now  considering,  it  is  not  the  formal,  but 
the  material,  or  substantial,  principle  which  is 
in  the  forefront  of  the  controversy,  and  this 
principle,  as  has  been  said,  arises,  according  to 


FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION    37 

the  Augsburg  Confession,  out  of  the  truth  of 
Original  Sin.  The  Reformers  teach,  in  the 
second  article  of  the  Confession,  that  "  after 
the  fall  of  Adam,  all  men,  who  are  naturally 
engendered,  are  born  with  sin  ;  that  is,  without 
fear  of  God,  without  trust  towards  God,  and 
with  concupiscence  ;  and  that  this  disease  or 
original  corruption — vitium  originis — is  truly 
sin,  involving  damnation,  and  bringing  even 
now  eternal  death  upon  those  who  are  not  born 
again  by  baptism  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  They 
anathematise  the  Pelagians  and  others,  who 
deny  that  this  original  fault  or  corruption  is 
sin,  and  who  diminish  the  glory  of  the  merits 
and  benefits  of  Christ  by  maintaining  that  men 
can  be  justified  before  God  by  the  natural 
powers  of  reason."  It  will  be  noticed  how 
closely  in  this,  as  in  other  things,  our  Articles 
follow  the  general  lines  of  this  Confession,  alike 
in  the  substance  of  their  statement  respecting 
original  sin,  and  in  the  order  in  which  they 
place  the  article  on  the  subject-^immediately, 
that  is,  after  the  articles  which  define  the  Rule 
of  Faith,  and  thus  at  the  head  of  the  articles 
which  deal  with  the  doctrinal  matters  of  con- 
troversy. 


38    FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION 

But  what  is  the  reason  why  this  doctrine 
assumes  such  prominence  ?  It  is  because  the 
whole  movement  started  out  of  a  deeper  appre- 
hension of  the  corruption  and  evil  of  human 
nature  than  had,  perhaps,  prevailed  in  the 
Church  since  the  time  of  St.  Augustine.  The 
main  tendency  of  Middle  Age  theology  was 
Pelagian.  Bradwardine,  the  Doctor  Profundus^ 
for  a  brief  time  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  in 
1349,  declared  that  the  whole  world  of  his 
day  had  gone  after  Pelagius  ;  and  at  the  time 
of  the  Reformation,  though  orthodoxy  might 
be  saved  by  subtle  distinctions,  the  practical 
effect  of  the  prevalent  teaching  was  to  throw 
men  upon  their  own  efforts — upon  their  own 
obedience,  at  all  events,  to  the  rules  of  religion 
and  of  the  Church — for  their  salvation,  and 
for  their  attainment  of  perfection.  The  mere 
fact,  the  unquestionable  fact,  that  forgiveness 
could,  under  express  Papal  authority,  be  bought 
for  a  price,  is  sufficient  to  prove  that  there 
was,  at  all  events,  prevalent  a  grave  obscuration 
of  the  deadly  nature  of  sin  and  of  human  evil. 
The  Reformers,  however,  did  not  approach 
this  subject  as  a  technical  theological  doctrine. 
They  came  to  it  as  to  a  matter  of  deep  personal 


FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION    39 

experience.  They  felt  in  themselves,  and  they 
awakened  in  others,  an  intense  feeling  that 
man  was  very  far  gone — quam  longissime — from 
original  righteousness,  from  the  nature  and 
the  perfection  for  which  he  was  intended,  and 
consequently  that  he  must  needs  abandon  all 
idea  of  hope  or  help  from  his  own  powers. 
For  this  purpose,  it  will  be  observed,  they 
bring  into  special  prominence  man's  failure  to 
live  in  the  due  love  and  fear  of  God.  They 
say  that  men  are  born  "  with  sin,  that  is, 
without  fear  of  God,  without  trust  towards 
God,  and  with  concupiscence — cum  peccato^ 
hoc  est  sine  metu  Dei^  sine  Jiducia  erga  Deum  et 
cum  concupiscentiaT  The  lust  of  concupiscence 
is  not  the  starting-point  of  the  evil,  but  its 
consequence.  In  proportion  as  men  do  not 
live  in  the  love  and  fear  of  God,  the  passions 
of  their  lower  nature  are  inevitably  let  loose, 
and  fall  into  disorder.  The  characteristic 
teaching  of  the  later  schoolmen  on  this  point 
was  that  the  fall  did  but  remove  an  addition 
which  had  been  made  by  God  to  the  natural 
endowments  of  man.  But  the  Reformers  re- 
garded the  fall  as  having  removed  the  main- 
spring, deprived  human  nature  of  its  sun  and 


40    FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION 

centre,  and  thus  involved  it  in  utter  ruin  and 
confusion.  For  the  mere  functions  of  civil 
life,  it  retains  to  a  great  extent  the  power  of 
free-will  and  self-government  ;  though  even  in 
this  sphere  it  can  only  be  kept  in  tolerable 
order  by  the  stern  administration  of  law,  and 
its  evil  impulses  are  perpetually  at  work.  But 
for  the  higher  purposes  of  the  soul,  for  its 
ideal  life,  a  fall  from  God  was  a  fall  from 
everything.  When  they  looked  into  their 
own  hearts,  or  when  they  looked  around  them, 
and  saw  the  widespread  absence  of  the  habit 
of  living  in  God,  with  God,  and  for  God,  it 
appeared  to  them  like  a  permanent  solar  eclipse 
in  the  spiritual  world,  and  they  could  not  use 
language  strong  enough  to  express  their  sense 
of  the  fearful  disaster  which  it  involved. 

The  failure  of  their  adversaries  to  appreciate 
their  point  of  view  in  this  respect  is  strangely 
exhibited  in  the  official  Confutation  of  the 
Confession,  which  was  drawn  up  at  the  time 
by  order  of  the  Emperor.  This  Confutation, 
prepared  by  Roman  Catholic  divines  at  the 
Council,  says  that  they  approve  the  second 
article  of  the  Confession,  so  far  as  it  states  that 
original     corruption     is    really    sin,    bringing 


FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION    41 

damnation  and  eternal  death  to  those  who  are 
not  born  anew  by  baptism  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
But  the  statement,  that  it  is  a  part  of  original 
sin  that  men  are  born  without  fear  of  God, 
and  without  trust  in  God,  is  altogether  to  be 
rejected,  since  it  is  evident  to  every  Christian 
that  to  be  without  fear  of  God  and  trust  in 
God  is  rather  the  actual  sin  of  the  adult  than 
the  fault  of  the  new-born  infant.  As  though 
the  Reformers  had  been  concerned  to  settle 
the  exact  relations  between  original  and  actual 
sin  !  As  is  said  in  the  '  Apology  of  the  Con- 
fession,' written  by  Melanchthon  in  reply  to  the 
'  Confutatio  Pontificia, '  their  simple  object 
was  to  recite  the  whole  contents  and  conse- 
quences which  are  involved  in  original  sin. 
They  were  concerned  to  urge  that  men  not 
only  failed  in  acts  of  fear  and  love  towards  God, 
but  in  the  very  capacity  for  it  ;  so  that  nature, 
by  itself,  was  possessed  by  concupiscence,  and 
could  not  manifest  true  fear  and  love  towards 
God. 

This  was  the  starting-point — an  utter  sense 
of  helplessness,  a  conviction  that  men  and 
women  were  so  far  gone  from  original  right- 
eousness that  they  had  not  even  power  "  to  turn 


42    FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION 

themselves, ''  by  any  natural  strength  or  good 
works  of  their  own,  "  to  faith  and  calling  upon 
God.  "  After  all,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that 
this  conviction  was  the  result  produced  upon 
earnest  minds,  like  Luther's,  by  the  practice 
and  experience  of  the  Church  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  The  history  of  that  Church  is  the 
history  of  prolonged  and  heroic  efforts  to  attain 
perfection.  The  most  unsparing  asceticism,  the 
most  unbounded  self-sacrifice,  an  inexhaustible 
energy  and  fertility  in  good  works  of  all  kinds, 
new  orders  of  monkery,  rules  of  ever-increasing 
severity,  ceremonies  heaped  upon  ceremonies, 
had  been  produced  by  this  insatiable  craving 
after  perfection  ;  and  what  was  the  result  ? 
As  to  the  general  state  of  the  Church,  and  the 
Christian  life,  let  Erasmus's  '  Encomium  Mo- 
ri^, '  his  satirical  eulogy  of  folly,  written  in 
1 510,  before  the  commencement  of  the  Luth- 
eran movement,  be  a  sufficient  witness.  The 
corruption  which  that  satire  lays  bare  through- 
out the  Church,  in  the  Clergy,  the  monastic 
Orders,  and  the  Court  of  Rome  would  be  in- 
credible, if  it  were  not  thus  attested  by  a  con- 
temporary observer  like  Erasmus,  who,  when 
the  crisis  came,  stood  aside  from  the   Reform- 


FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION    43 

ing  movement.  It  is  no  disparagement  of  the 
persistent  efforts  of  the  doctors  and  saints  of  the 
Middle  Ages  to  say  that,  at  the  time  the 
Reformation  commenced,  their  system  was 
bankrupt.  It  had  failed,  not  only  to  produce 
the  perfection  at  which  it  had  aimed,  but  even 
to  preserve  the  Church  and  the  world  from  the 
most  intolerable  corruptions.  But  if  it  had 
failed  publicly,  it  had  not  less  conspicuously 
failed  in  individual  experience.  Its  high  ideal 
standard,  its  intense  asceticism,  the  terrors  with 
which,  not  only  in  hell  but  in  purgatory,  it  had 
invested  the  idea  of  God  and  His  righteousness, 
had  taken  comfort  and  hope  out  of  the  hearts 
of  numbers  of  earnest  souls.  Few  things, 
accordingly,  are  more  striking  in  the  early 
sermons  of  the  preachers  of  the  Reformation, 
or  in  the  Apology  itself,  than  the  stress  which 
is  constantly  laid  upon  the  troubled  and  aff- 
righted consciences  to  which  they  address 
themselves.  The  20th  Article  of  the  Confes- 
sion, for  instance,  on  good  works,  speaks  of  the 
consolation  brought  by  the  Reformed  doctrine 
to  pious  and  trembling  consciences,  which 
could  not  be  rendered  tranquil  by  any  works, 
and  it  says  that  the  whole  of  the  Reformed 


44    FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION 

teaching  is  to  be  referred  to  the  struggle  of  a 
terrified  conscience,  and  cannot  be  understood 
without  that  struggle.  Formerly,  it  goes  on 
to  say,  consciences  were  tormented  by  the  doc- 
trine of  works,  and  did  not  hear  the  consolation 
of  the  Gospel.  Some  were  driven  by  their 
conscience  into  the  desert,  or  into  monasteries, 
hoping  to  merit  grace  there  by  a  monastic  life. 
These  statements,  made  in  the  face  of  the 
world,  before  the  Diet,  and  not  denied  by  the 
Papal  Confutation,  indicate  what  was  the  pre- 
valent need  and  craving  to  which  the  Reformers 
addressed  themselves.  In  answer  to  this  article 
of  the  Confession,  the  Papal  Confutation  simply 
asserts  that  good  works  do  merit  the  remission 
of  sins.  The  contrary  doctrine,  they  say,  as  it 
has  been  formally  rejected  and  condemned, 
so  it  is  now  rejected  and  condemned.  But 
unfortunately,  whether  good  works  merited 
remission  of  sins  or  not,  the  bitter  experience 
of  the  Reformers,  and  of  the  struggling  men 
and  women  whom  they  addressed,  was  sufficient 
to  show  that  they  did  not  bring  to  men  any 
assurance  of  the  remission  of  sins,  and  that  they 
left  consciences  struggling  with  the  fear  of 
God's  wrath,  and  of  the  judgments  which  they 


FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION    45 

had  to  encounter.  It  was  this  general  sense  of 
helplessness  which  rendered  possible  such  prac- 
tices as  that  of  indulgences.  It  was,  to  a  great 
extent,  in  a  sort  of  despair  that  men  and  women 
clutched  at  the  extravagant  promises  held  out 
to  them,  of  escaping  the  punishments  to  which 
they  were  liable  by  buying  the  Pope's  pardons, 
and  by  helping  to  build  St  Peter's.  But  when 
one  great  and  genuine  soul  had  wrestled  with 
these  terrors  of  conscience  for  years  in  a  monas- 
tery, when  the  truth  had  been  brought  home 
to  the  depths  of  his  conscience,  by  a  bitter 
personal  experience,  that  there  was  no  hope  in 
himself  and  his  own  efforts,  but  that  he  must 
look  altogether  outside  himself  for  forgiveness 
and  for  peace,  and  when  he  brought  this 
experience  home  to  the  hearts  of  others,  the 
long  struggle  of  the  Middle  Ages  had  reached 
its  natural  conclusion.  Every  door  towards 
peace  and  forgiveness  had  been  tried  which 
human  self-sacrifice  could  test,  and  every  such 
effbrt  had  failed  ;  and  when  that  failure  was  at 
length  realised,  men's  hearts  leapt  up  at  the 
renewed  declaration  of  those  "  comfortable 
words  which  our  Saviour  Christ  saith  to  all 
that  truly  turn  to  Him.  " 


46    FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION 

If,  in  short,  in  one  sense  the  Reformation 
was  a  revolt  against  the  teaching  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  or  at  least  its  later  teaching,  in  another 
sense  it  is  the  natural  result  and  product  of  that 
teaching.  The  saints  and  doctors  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  by  the  very  heroism  of  their 
efforts,  by  the  strain  to  v^hich  they  had  put  the 
pov^ers  of  human  nature,  had  proved  the  inade- 
quacy of  those  powers,  and  the  necessity  of 
resorting  to  some  other  source  of  forgiveness, 
peace,  and  new  life.  The  Reformers,  in  vin- 
dicating their  doctrine  and  their  messages, 
might  well  have  adapted  to  themselves,  in 
relation  to  the  prevalent  teaching  of  the  Church, 
the  words  of  St.  Paul :  "  Do  we  then  make 
void  the  teaching  and  the  experience  of  the 
past  by  our  doctrine  ?  God  forbid.  Yea,  we 
recognise  and  establish  the  result  of  that 
experience  and  that  teaching.  "  Luther  could 
not  have  been  the  Reformer  he  was  if  he  had 
not  been  a  monk  ;  and  in  the  same  way,  no 
one  can  appreciate  the  great  message  of  the 
Reformation  who  does  not  begin,  in  personal 
experience,  with  an  apprehension  of  the  inten- 
sity of  the  original  sin  and  helplessness  of  his 
nature.      It   remains  to   illustrate   the  answer 


FIRST  PROTESTANT  CONFESSION    47 

given   by  the  Reformers   to  this  terrible   sense 
of  human  weakness  and  misery. 


III. 


We  have  seen  that  the  Confession  of  Augs- 
burg starts  from  the  sad  fact,  w^hich  a  bitter 
experience  had  forced  upon  the  Reformers,  and 
which  was  too  fully  established  by  the  expe- 
rience of  the  Church  at  large,  of  the  impotence 
of  human  nature  in  spiritual  things,  and  of  its 
consequent  inability  to  obtain  forgiveness, 
peace,  or  holiness  by  its  own  efforts  or  sacrifices. 
What,  we  are  next  to  ask,  was  the  remedy  the 
Reformers  proposed  for  this  bankruptcy  of 
human  powers  ?  The  foundation  for  the  answer 
is  laid  in  the  third  article,  following  the  second 
on  original  sin.  "  We  teach  also,"  it  says,  in 
words  of  which  our  own  second  article  is  an 
echo,  "  that  the  Word,  that  is,  the  Son  of  God, 
took  human  nature  upon  him  in  the  womb  of 
the  blessed  Virgin  Mary  ;  so  that  two  natures, 
the  Divine  and  human,  were  joined  together 
in  unity  of  person,  never  to  be  divided,  one 
Christ,  very  God  and  very  man,  born  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  who  truly  suffered,  was  crucified. 


48  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH 

dead,  and  buried,  to  reconcile  His  Father  to 
us,  and  to  be  a  Sacrifice,  not  only  for  original 
guilt,  but  also  for  all  actual  sins  of  men.  The 
same  Christ  descended  into  hell,  and  truly  rose 
again  the  third  day,  then  ascended  to  the 
heavens,  to  sit  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father, 
and  for  ever  to  reign  and  be  Lord  over  all 
creatures,  to  sanctify  those  v^ho  believe  on  Him, 
by  sending  into  their  hearts  the  Holy  Spirit, 
who  should  govern,  control,  and  quicken  them, 
and  defend  them  against  the  Devil  and  the 
power  of  sin.  The  same  Christ  will  manifestly 
come  again,  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead, 
according  to  the  Apostles'  Creed." 

The  past  and  present  work  of  Christ — His 
sacrifice  in  the  past,  and  His  sanctification  of 
the  faithful  by  His  Spirit  in  the  present — is 
thus  put  forward  as  the  sole  source  of  our 
forgiveness  and  redemption  ;  and  to  this  state- 
ment the  Papal  Confutation  has  no  objection 
to  make.  It  is,  however,  remarkable,  and  is 
perhaps  an  indication  of  the  imperfect  percep- 
tion by  its  authors  of  the  questions  at  issue, 
that  they  do  not  notice  the  important  clause, 
repeated  in  our  own  article,  that  our  Lord  was 
a  sacrifice,   "  not  only  for  original  guilty  hut  also 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  49 

for  all  actual  sins  of  men'''  When  the  question 
recurs  again,  in  the  article  respecting  the  Mass, 
the  Confession  expressly  alleges  that "  an  opinion 
prevailed — which  had  led  to  an  infinite  increase 
of  private  Masses — that  Christ,  by  His  Passion, 
had  made  satisfaction  for  original  sin,  but  had 
instituted  the  Mass  as  an  oblation  to  be  made 
for  daily  sins,  mortal  and  venial ;  and  that  from 
thence  flowed  the  current  opinion  that  the 
Mass  is  a  work  putting  away  the  sins  of  the 
living  and  the  dead,  ex  opere  operatoT  The 
Papal  Confutation,  in  dealing  with  that  part 
of  the  Confession,  disputes  this  statement,  but 
practically  admits  it.  "  We  do  not  teach," 
they  say,  "  that  the  Mass  puts  away — delet — 
sins,  which  are  taken  away  by  penance,  as 
their  proper  medicine  ;  but  it  does  put  away 
the  punishment  due  for  sin — delet  pcenam  pro 
peccato  debitam — and  supplements  satisfaction 
for  sins."  It  is  at  all  events  evident  that  the 
words  "  not  only  for  original  guilt,  but  also  for 
all  actual  sins  of  men,"  are  inserted  by  the 
Reformers  in  their  Confession  with  a  deliberate 
and  important  purpose,  in  order  to  state,  in  the 
most  comprehensive  manner,  that,  in  the  words 
of  our  Prayer  of  Consecration,  our  Lord,  "  by 


so  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH 

His  one  oblation  of  Himself  once  offered,  made 
a  full,  perfect,  and  sufficient  sacrifice,  oblation, 
and  satisfaction,  for  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world.  "  Nothing  more  can  be  required  by 
the  divine  justice  in  satisfaction  for  sin,  in 
addition  to  that  one  perfect  and  sufficient 
sacrifice  of  Christ.  The  grace  won  by  that 
sacrifice  has,  indeed,  to  be  applied  and  used, 
and  Christian  life  and  Christian  worship  consist 
in  its  use  and  application  ;  but  as  a  satisfaction 
for  sin,  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,  it  is 
complete  and  final,  and  nothing  whatever  in 
the  way  of  satisfaction  can  be  added  to  it. 

Then  it  is,  having  laid  this  great  foundation, 
that  the  Reformers  advance,  in  their  fourth 
article,  to  the  doctrine  in  which  this  great 
truth  is  apphed  to  the  relief  of  that  state  of 
helplessness,  and  desperation  of  self,  in  which 
they  felt  themselves  and  their  fellows  immersed. 
"  We  further  teach,  "  they  say,  "  that  men 
cannot  be  justified  before  God  by  their  own 
powers,  merits,  or  works,  but  are  freely — grafis 
— justified  for  Christ's  sake,  by  faith,  when 
they  believe  that  they  are  received  into  grace, 
and  that  their  sins  are  remitted  for  Christ's 
sake,  who,  by  His  death,  made  satisfaction  for 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  51 

our  sins.  This  faith  God  imputes  for  right- 
eousness before  Him,  as  is  stated  in  the  3rd 
and  4th  chapters  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans." 
Here  at  length  we  come — not  so  much  to  the 
cardinal  principle  of  the  Reformed  teaching, 
for  that  is  rather  contained  in  the  previous 
article,  of  the  absolute  sufficiency  of  the  sacrifice 
of  Christ  as  a  satisfaction  for  sin — but  to  its 
practical  application,  and  consequently  to  the 
practical  point  which  was  at  issue.  Consider 
before  you,  as  I  have  said,  all  the  troubled 
consciences  of  those  times,  the  earnest  souls 
who,  by  asceticism  and  self-denial,  had  tried  to 
conquer  sin  within  them,  and  to  win  peace, 
and  had  failed,  and  the  mass  of  people  in 
ordinary  life,  who  looked  forward  with  dread 
to  the  divine  judgments,  and  were  clutching 
even  at  straws  like  indulgences  to  escape  them 
— how  was  the  blessing  of  forgiveness  or  just- 
ification to  be  obtained  by  them  ?  The  Reform- 
ers said, — It  is  there,  and  you  can  take  it  when 
you  will.  You  have  no  need  to  consider 
whether  you  are  fit  for  it  ;  you  have  not  to 
consider  whether  you  have  done  and  suff^ered 
enough  for  it  ;  you  never  could  do  or  suff'er 
enough  for  it ;  if  any  part  of  it,  however  small. 


52  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH 

depended  upon  your  doing  or  suffering,  you 
could  have  no  assurance  of  it.  But  it  is  given 
you — given  you  by  virtue  of  the  one  complete 
sacrifice  of  Christ,  and  you  have  but  to  accept 
it.  The  promise  is  made  to  you,  and  you  have 
but  to  believe  it.  Only  believe  the  promise  ; 
and,  in  the  faith  of  the  promise,  take  up  the 
gift  that  is  offered  you,  and  it  is  yours.  It  is 
a  gift,  and  you  are  only  asked  to  accept  it ;  but, 
that  you  may  accept  it,  you  must,  of  course, 
believe  the  promise  ;  and  it  is  by  faith,  there- 
fore, by  faith  in  God's  promise  and  God's  offer, 
and  by  that  alone,  that  you  can  obtain  peace 
for  your  souls,  and  enter  into  full  enjoyment 
of  God's  favour  and  God's  love."  Of  course, 
as  they  go  on  to  say  in  the  sixth  article,  this 
is  but  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  life.  We 
are  received  into  God's  favour,  and  given  His 
grace,  not  only  because  of  the  infinite  blessing 
which  that  favour  and  forgiveness  are  in  them- 
selves, but  in  order  that  we  may  enter  on  a  life 
of  new  obedience.  That  sixth  article,  which 
is  entitled  "  Of  the  new  obedience  " — De  nova 
obedientia — says  that  "  we  teach  that  this  faith 
ought  to  produce  good  fruits,  and  that  we  are 
bound  to  do  good  works  commanded  by  God, 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  53 

for  the  sake  of  God's  will,  though  not  that  we 
may  have  any  confidence  of  deserving  by  those 
works  justification  before  God.  " 

The  Papal  Confutation,  on  this  point,  exhi- 
bits a  complete  misapprehension  of  the  question 
at  issue,  and  a  reference  to  it  will  help  to  make 
the  point  more  clear.  "  It  is,  "  they  say,  "  a 
Catholic  truth,  and  in  accordance  with  ancient 
Councils,  that  men  cannot  merit  eternal  life 
by  their  own  powers,  apart  from  the  grace  of 
God.  .  .  .  But  if  it  be  intended  to  invalidate 
the  merits  of  men  for  works  which  are  done 
with  the  assistance  of  divine  grace,  the  statement 
is  more  suited  to  Manichaeans  than  to  the 
Catholic  Church.  "  "  It  is,  "  they  add,  "  alto- 
gether contrary  to  the  Scriptures  to  deny  that 
our  works  are  meritorious,  ''  and  they  quote 
such  passages  of  Scripture  as  St.  Paul's  statement 
that  he  had  fought  a  good  fight,  and  that  hence- 
forth there  was  "  laid  up  for  him  a  crown  of 
righteousness,  which  God,  the  righteous  judge, 
would  give  him  in  that  day."  But  the  Reform- 
ers had  no  idea  of  questioning  God's  gracious 
promises  of  reward  for  good  works  done  by 
men  who  enjoyed  the  assistance  of  His  grace. 
The  question  was.  What  brought  them  into 


54  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH 

that  state  of  grace  ?  It  is  by  virtue  of  their 
forgiveness  and  adoption  as  children— in  other 
words,  their  justification — that  they  receive 
His  gracious  assistance.  That  forgiveness,  that 
justification,  constitutes  the  great  revolution  in 
their  condition  ;  and  it  was  this  which,  the 
Reformers  declared,  was  offered  to  all  men, 
without  any  merits  or  work  of  their  own,  which 
was  bestowed  upon  them  freely,  and  could  be 
accepted  only  as  a  gift. 

It  is  because  this  can  only  be  accepted,  not 
earned,  that  faith  acquires  its  importance  in  the 
matter.  If  you  are  told  that  a  gift  is  at  your 
disposal,  your  enjoyment  of  it  depends,  not  on 
anything  that  you  do,  but  on  your  belief  of  the 
assurance,  your  trusting  it,  and  acting  upon  it. 
The  strangest  misconceptions  have  prevailed  on 
this  point.  It  has  been  said  that  the  Reformers 
attributed  some  abstract  virtue  to  Faith, — that 
Faith,  as  an  abstract  quality,  was  elevated  by 
them  to  a  novel  supremacy,  and  that  their 
doctrine  was  simply, "  Believe  that  you  have  and 
you  have  it.  "  But  there  is  nothing  abstract, 
nothing  independent,  in  the  faith  of  which  the 
Reformers  spoke.  It  exists  solely  by  virtue  of 
the  antecedent  promise  and  assurance  of  God ; 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  S5 

and,  as  is  urged  again  and  again  by  the  Confession 
of  Augsburg  and  the  Apology  for  the  Confession, 
it  is  simply  the  response  to  that  promise  on  the 
part  of  man.  A  promise  or  assurance  can  only 
be  met  by  one  of  two  things — belief  or  disbe- 
lief. God  gives  us  the  assurance  of  His  favour 
and  forgiveness,  for  Christ's  sake;  do  you  believe 
Him  or  disbelieve  Him  ?  There  is  no  third 
alternative.  Of  course,  if  we  believe  the  assur- 
ance and  take  the  gift,  and  then  misuse  it,  we 
are  liable  to  forfeit  it.  The  object  for  which 
a  man  is  introduced  into  God's  favour,  and 
given  God's  grace,  is  that  he  may  live  by  that 
grace,  and  may  do  God's  will  ;  and  if  he  does 
not  strive  to  do  so,  his  nominal  acceptance  of 
the  gift  is  a  mockery.  But  the  gift  is  offered 
to  him  absolutely,  for  Christ's  sake  ;  it  is  for 
him  to  take  it  or  leave  it.  When  he  believes 
it  he  has  it,  because  it  is  there  ;  if  he  disbelieves 
it,  he  does  not  have  it,  though  it  still  remains 
at  his  disposal  ;  and  consequently  there  is  no 
possible  way  of  stating  the  bare  fact  of  the  case, 
but  that  a  man  is  freely  justified,  through 
Christ,  when  by  faith  he  believes  the  offer 
made  him,  and  closes  with  it. 

It  should,  therefore,  be  particularly  noticed 


Se  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH 

that  the  phrase,  Justification  by  faith^  is  really 
an  abbreviated  expression  of  the  truth,  and  is 
not  the  phrase  originally  used  by  the  Reformers 
in  the  Confession  of  Augsburg.  They  say,  not 
that  men  are  justified  by  faith,  but  that  they 
2iVQ  justified  for  Christ's  sa^e  through  faith.  Our 
own  article  is  in  strict  conformity  with  this 
expression,  and  brings  out  its  meaning  still  more 
clearly,  when  it  says  that  "  we  are  accounted 
righteous  before  God  only  for  the  merit  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  by  faith,  and 
not  for  our  own  works  or  deservings.  "  That 
we  are  justified  by  faith  is  a  mere  consequence 
of  the  truth  :  the  cardinal  point  is  that  we  are 
justified  only  for  the  merits  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  That  being  so,  our  part 
is  reduced  to  the  acceptance  of  the  gift,  by 
virtue  of  a  belief  in  the  promise  which  off^ers 
us  the  gift,  and  for  this  reason  we  are  said  to 
be  justified  by  faith  only. 

This  aspect  of  the  truth  may  be  confirmed 
and  illustrated  by  another  quotation  from  the 
Confession,  in  the  twentieth  article,  which  is 
one  of  its  most  famous  passages.  "  As  the 
doctrine  of  faith,"  it  says,  "  which  ought  to  be 
the  chief  doctrine  in  the  Church,  has  so  long 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  57 

lain  unknown — for  all  must  confess  that  there 
used  in  sermons  to  be  the  profoundest  silence 
respecting  the  righteousness  of  faith,  and  that 
the  doctrine  of  works  was  the  only  one  heard 
in  Churches — our  teachers  have  thus  admon- 
ished their  Churches  respecting  faith  :  First, 
that  our  works  cannot  reconcile  God,  or  merit 
the  remission  of  sins,  or  grace,  or  justification, 
but  that  this  we  receive  only  by  faith,  believing 
that  we  are  received  into  grace  for  Christ's  sake, 
who  alone  is  set  forth  as  our  Mediator  and  our 
propitiation,  and  by  whom  the  Father  is  recon- 
ciled. .  .  .  This  doctrine  of  faith  is  everywhere 
treated  in  St.  Paul,  as  he  says:  By  grace  ye  are 
saved^  through  faith,  and  that  not  of  yourselves, 
it  is  the  gift  of  God.  .  .  .  Men  are  also 
admonished  that  this  word  faith  does  not  sig- 
nify merely  a  knowledge  of  history,  such  as 
exists  in  the  godless  and  in  the  devil,  but 
signifies  a  faith  which  believes  not  only  the 
history,  but  the  effect  of  the  history — namely, 
this  article  of  remission  of  sins,  that  is,  that, 
through  Christ,  we  have  grace,  righteousness, 
and  the  remission  of  sins.  Now,  he  who  knows 
that  through  Christ  he  has  the  Father  propi- 
tious to  him,  he  it  is  who  truly  knows  God,  is 


58  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH 

assured  that  he  is  a  subject  of  God's  care,  and 
calls  upon  Him  in  prayer.  In  short,  he  is  no 
longer  without  God,  like  the  heathen.  For 
devils  and  the  godless  cannot  believe  this  article 
of  remission  of  sins.  Therefore  they  hate  God 
as  an  enemy,  they  do  not  call  upon  Him,  they 
do  not  expect  any  good  from  Him.  Augustine, 
in  speaking  of  the  v^ovA-faith^  similarly  admon- 
ishes the  reader,  and  teaches  that,  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, the  v^ovdi  faith  is  accepted,  not  for  mere 
knowledge,  such  as  exists  in  the  godless,  but 
for  trust — -jiducia — which  consoles  and  lifts  up 
terrified  and  troubled  hearts. 

"  But,  further,  we  teach  that  it  is  necessary 
to  do  good  works,  not  in  order  to  trust  to 
merit  grace  by  them,  but  for  the  sake  of  the 
will  of  God.  By  faith  alone  we  apprehend 
the  remission  of  sins  and  grace.  But  because 
by  faith  the  Holy  Spirit  is  received,  our  hearts 
also  are  renovated,  and  put  on  new  affections, 
so  as  to  be  able  to  produce  good  works.  .  .  . 
For  human  powers,  without  the  Holy  Spirit, 
are  full  of  godless  affections,  and  are  too  feeble 
to  be  able  to  do  good  works  before  God. 
Moreover,  they  are  under  the  dominion  of  the 
devil,  who   impels   men    to    various    sins,    to 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  59 

godless  opinions,  to  open  crimes  :  as  may  be 
seen  in  philosophers  who  have  themselves  tried 
to  live  honourable  lives,  yet  have  not  been  able 
to  do  it,  but  have  been  contaminated  w^ith 
many  manifest  sins.  Such  is  the  feebleness  of 
man  v^hen  he  is  without  faith,  and  without 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  governs  himself  by  human 
strength  alone. 

"  Hence  it  is  readily  apparent  that  our  doc- 
trine is  not  to  be  accused  of  prohibiting  good 
works,  but  much  rather  to  be  praised  for 
showing  how  we  may  be  able  to  do  good 
works.  For  without  faith  human  nature  is  in 
no  wise  able  to  do  the  works  of  the  first  or 
second  commandment.  Without  faith  it  does 
not  call  upon  God,  does  not  expect  anything 
from  God,  does  not  endure  the  cross,  but 
seeks  for  human  aids,  and  trusts  in  human  as- 
sistance. Thus  there  reign  in  the  heart  all 
lusts  and  human  devices,  when  faith  and  trust 
towards  God  are  absent.  Wherefore  also  Christ 
said.  Without  me  ye  can  do  nothing  ;  and  the 
Church  sings.  Sine  tuo  numine  nihil  est  in  homine^ 
nihil  est  innoxium.  " 

This  classical  passage,  as  it  has  been  called, 
brings  out  with  great  clearness  the  momentous 


6o  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH 

practical  effect  of  the  revival  of  this  old 
Catholic  doctrine.  It  lifted  all  believers  at 
once  into  a  state  of  confidence  towards  God,  of 
peace  and  joy,  and  set  them  free,  w^ith  un- 
burdened hearts,  to  serve  God,  and  to  do  good 
to  their  neighbours.  Men  had  been  living 
under  a  cloud,  v^ith  doubtful  hearts,  burdened 
with  fear  of  mysterious  future  judgments  and 
penalties,  perplexing  and  tormenting  their  con- 
sciences to  make  satisfaction  for  their  sins,  and 
when  they  died,  leaving  money  to  buy  masses 
to  be  said  for  their  release  from  the  pains  of 
purgatory.  But,  by  this  great  proclamation, 
the  cloud  was  suddenly  lifted,  the  face  of  God 
was  revealed  as  gracious  and  propitious  to  them 
in  Christ,  and  they  were  only  asked,  for  His 
love,  and  for  their  Saviour's  sake,  to  try  to  do 
His  will,  and  to  live  in  faith  and  trust  towards 
Him,  and  in  love  towards  their  neighbour.  It 
was  a  complete  transformation  of  life,  like  that 
which  was  produced  in  the  prodigal  son,  when, 
after  struggling  back  in  fear  and  shame  to  his 
Father's  house,  his  Father  saw  him  a  great  way 
oif,  and  ran,  and  fell  on  his  neck  and  kissed 
him,  and  took  him,  though  he  had  done  nothing 
to  deserve   it,  back   into    his  love  and   favour. 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  6i 

Accordingly,  wherever  this  doctrine  was  re- 
ally grasped,  we  witness  the  development  of  a 
characteristic  type  of  free,  confident,  generous, 
energetic,  and  childlike  Christianity.  The 
word  which  is  perhaps  most  characteristic  of 
the  spirit  fostered  by  the  Reformers'  teaching, 
especially  in  Germany,  is  the  word  child — the 
tender  German  word  kind — with  all  the  re- 
lations of  childlike  trust  and  confidence,  and 
fatherly  love  and  protection,  which  it  evokes. 
We  feel  this  spirit,  for  instance,  in  the  exquisite 
morning  and  evening  prayers  which  Luther 
taught  the  German  nation  in  his  Shorter  Cate- 
chism :  "  I  thank  thee,  my  heavenly  Father, 
through  Jesus  Christ,  Thy  dear  Son,  that  Thou 
hast  preserved  me  this  night  from  all  harm  and 
danger,  and  I  pray  Thee  Thou  wouldst  also 
protect  me  this  day  from  sin  and  all  evil,  that 
all  my  deeds  and  my  life  may  be  pleasing  in 
Thy  sight.  For  I  commend  myself,  my  body 
and  soul,  and  all,  into  Thy  hands.  Let  Thy 
holy  angel  be  with  me,  that  the  evil  one  may 
have  no  power  over  me  ;  "  and  "  then,  "  he 
adds,  "  go  joyfully  to  thy  work,  and  sing  some 
hymn,  or  the  Ten  Commandments,  or  whatever 
thy  devotion  may  suggest.  "      So  at  night,  for 


62  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH 

an  evening  blessing,  he  bids  you,  when  you  go 
to  bed,  "  sign  thyself  with  the  holy  cross,  and 
say  :  "  In  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  then,  kneeling 
or  standing,  repeat  the  Creed  and  the  Lord's 
Prayer  ;  and,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  mayest  add  this 
short  prayer  :  I  thank  Thee,  my  heavenly 
Father,  through  Jesus  Christ,  Thy  dear  Son, 
that  Thou  hast  graciously  protected  me  through 
this  day  ;  and  I  beseech  Thee  Thou  wouldst 
forgive  me  all  my  sins,  wherever  I  have  done 
wrong,  and  graciously  protect  me  this  night. 
For  I  commend  myself,  my  body  and  soul,  and 
all,  into  Thy  hands  ;  let  Thy  holy  angel  be 
with  me,  that  the  evil  one  may  have  no  power 
over  me  ;  and  then,  "  he  adds  characteristically, 
"  quickly  and  cheerfully  to  sleep.  " 

But  the  same  childlike  spirit  breathes  through- 
out the  whole  devotional  literature,  especially  in 
Germany,  which  has  been  produced  under  this 
influence.  I  take,  for  instance,  almost  at  hap- 
hazard, from  the  so-called  Housebook^  author- 
ised by  the  General  Lutheran  Conference,^  the 
following    characteristic    prayer  :    "  I    render 

^  Allgemeines  Gebetbuch,  ein  Haus  und  Kirchenbuch, ' 
5th  edition,  1887,  Leipzig.      *  Hausbuch,  '  p.  46. 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  63 

Thee,  O  true  and  faithful  God,  praise,  honour, 
and  thanks,  for  Thy  goodness  and  gracious- 
ness,  which  Thou  hast  showed  me  this  day, 
although  I  am  a  poor  sinner,  and  not  worthy 
to  be  called  Thy  child.  But  I  know  that  Thy 
mercy  is  very  great,  and  far  greater  than  my 
sins,  or  the  sins  of  the  whole  world.  Therefore 
I  confess  to  Thee  all  my  sins  and  misdeeds, 
which  I  have  committed  this  day,  yea,  and 
from  my  youth  up,  against  Thee,  and  beseech 
Thee  Thou  wouldst  forgive  me,  and  pardon  them, 
and  of  Thy  grace  have  mercy  upon  me,  as  Thy 
dear  child,  and  give  me  into  the  protection  of 
Thy  holy  angels,  that  they  may  graciously 
protect  me  this  night,  and  all  future  time,  from 
all  harm  to  body  and  soul.  To  Thee  I  commit 
myself,  to  be  entirely  Thine  own,  in  death  and 
life.  Let  me  for  ever  be  and  abide  with 
Thee.  ''  In  such  utterances  love  and  trust 
have  cast  out  fear,  and,  in  reliance  on  Christ's 
promise,  men  and  women  live  in  perfect  confi- 
dence with  their  Father  and  their  Saviour.  A 
similar  consequence  of  the  same  faith  is  a 
robust  and  manly  spirit,  in  which  men  go 
through  the  world  with  their  heads  up,  looking 
God  and  man  in  the  face,  prepared  to  meet  the 


64  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH 

troubles  of  life,  and  to  bear  the  penalties  which 
must,  while  this  world  lasts,  attach  to  their 
sins  ;  but  fearing  nothing,  here  or  hereafter, 
because  they  know,  by  faith,  that  they  have 
God's  favour  and  forgiveness.  "  It  is  God's 
design,  "  said  Luther,  "  to  have  dauntless, 
calm,  and  generous  sons  in  all  eternity  and  per- 
fection, who  fear  absolutely  nothing,  but,  in 
reliance  on  His  grace,  triumph  over  and  des- 
pise all  things,  and  treat  punishments  and 
deaths  as  sport.  He  hates  all  the  cowards, 
who  are  confounded  with  the  fear  of  every- 
thing, even  with  the  sound  of  a  rustling  leaf."  ^ 
It  must  suffice,  in  this  Essay,  to  indicate 
briefly  the  effect  of  this  apprehension  of  the 
privilege  of  the  Christian,  as  the  forgiven  and 
justified  child  of  God,  upon  his  relation  to  the 
ordinances  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  the  ministry 
of  the  Church.  While  this  doctrine  was  ob- 
scured, the  inevitable  tendency  was  to  regard 

^  Deus  autem  proposuit  habere  filios  impavidos,  secures, 
generosos,  eternaliter  et  perfecte,  qui  prorsus  nihil  timeant, 
sed  per  gratiae  suae  fiduciam  omnia  triumphent  atque  con- 
temnant,  pcenasque  et  mortes  pro  ludibrio  habeant;  caeteros 
ignavos  odit,  qui  omnium  timore  confunduntur,  etiam  a 
sonitu  folii  volantis.  (Luther  'Resolutiones  Disputationum,' 
Conclusio  xix.) 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  65 

those  ordinances  as  acts,  or  sacrifices,  on  our 
part,  by  which  men  hoped  to  procure  the  for- 
giveness or  grace  of  which  they  felt  the  need. 
They  were  of  the  nature  of  works,  by  which 
that  grace  was  won  or  merited.  But  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  Reformed  doctrine,  they 
appeared  rather  as  the  manifestations  and 
channels  of  God's  gifts  and  graces  to  His 
redeemed  and  justified  children.  Instead  of 
losing  in  importance,  they  became  still  more 
precious,  because  we  could  approach  them, 
submit  ourselves  to  them,  and  use  them,  in 
full  assurance  of  faith.  Thus  the  Confession, 
after  the  fourth  article,  on  Justification,  goes 
on  to  speak  of  the  Ministry  in  the  Church, 
and  says  that,  "  in  order  that  we  may  obtain 
the  faith  "  of  which  it  has  spoken,  "  the 
ministry  has  been  appointed  of  teaching  the 
Gospel  and  administering  the  Sacraments: 
'  For  by  the  Word  and  Sacraments,  as  by 
instruments,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  bestowed,  who 
produces  faith,  where  and  when  it  seems  good 
to  God,  in  those  who  hear  the  Gospel.  '  " 
Respecting  the  use  of  the  Sacraments,  it  says 
fin  the  thirteenth  article,  that  they  were  insti- 
tuted— in  words  again  echoed  in  our  Articles — 


66  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH 

"  not  only  to  be  badges  or  tokens  of  men's 
profession,  but  rather  that  they  should  be  the 
signs  and  testimonies  of  the  will  of  God 
towards  us,  set  forth  to  arouse  and  conlSrm 
faith  in  those  who  use  them.  And  therefore 
the  Sacraments  must  be  so  used  that  faith  may 
be  applied  to  them,  which  believes  the  pro- 
mises exhibited  and  shown  forth  in  the  Sacra- 
ments. "  Of  Baptism,  it  is  said  in  the  ninth 
article  "  that  It  is  necessary  to  salvation,  and 
that  by  baptism  the  grace  of  God  is  bestowed; 
and  that  children  are  to  be  baptised,  in  order 
that,  being  offered  to  God  in  baptism,  they 
may  be  received  into  the  favour  of  God."  Of 
the  Lord's  Supper  it  is  said  in  the  tenth  article 
"  that  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  really 
present,  and  are  distributed  to  those  who  par- 
take of  the  Supper  of  the  Lord.  " 

But  it  is  in  relation  to  the  latter  Sacrament 
that  the  great  change,  or  alteration  of  balance, 
produced  by  the  Reformed  doctrine,  becomes 
most  conspicuous.  In  the  second  part  of  the 
Confession  the  abuses  are  mentioned  which 
the  Reformers  desired  to  see  removed  in  respect 
to  the  Mass.  Their  anxiety  to  avoid,  if  pos- 
sible, any  breach  with  their  opponents  is  il- 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  67 

lustrated  by  their  retention  of  this  current 
name  for  the  Holy  Communion.  They  urge 
that  their  Churches  are  falsely  accused  of 
abolishing  the  Mass,  for,  they  say,  "  it  is 
retained  among  us,  and  is  celebrated  with  the 
greatest  reverence.  Moreover,  the  accustomed 
ceremonies  are  almost  all  preserved,  except 
that,  for  the  instruction  of  the  people,  German 
prayers  or  hymns  are  used,  in  addition  to  the 
Latin  ;  for  this  is  the  great  use  of  ceremonies, 
to  teach  the  unlearned ;  and  not  only  does  Paul 
prescribe  that  a  tongue  understanded  of  the 
people  should  be  used  in  the  Church,  but  it  is 
so  ordered  by  human  law.  Our  people  are 
accustomed  to  use  the  Sacrament  together, 
if  any  are  fit  to  receive  it,  which  increases 
the  reverence  and  the  religious  use  of  public 
ceremonies  ;  for  none  are  admitted  to  the 
Sacrament  unless  they  have  been  previously 
examined.  Men  are  also  admonished  of  the 
dignity  and  the  use  of  the  Sacrament,  what 
consolation  it  brings  to  fearful  consciences, 
that  they  may  learn  to  believe  God,  and  to 
expect  and  seek  for  all  good  things  from  God. 
This  is  the  worship  with  which  God  is  well 
pleased  ;    this   use   of  the  Sacrament  cherishes 


68  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH 

piety  towards  God  ;  and  therefore  Masses  are 
not  seen  to  be  celebrated  among  our  adversaries 
with  more  rehgiousness  than  among  ourselves." 
They  go  on,  hov^ever,  to  denounce  the  sale  of 
Masses,  and  the  multiplication,  partly  from 
this  cause,  of  private  Masses.  The  abuse 
springs,  they  say,  from  the  false  supposition 
"  that  the  Mass  is  a  v^ork  v^hich  does  away 
the  sins  of  the  living  and  the  dead,  ex  opere 
operato,''  Any  such  opinion,  they  say,  "is  in- 
consistent with  the  Scriptures,  and  injurious  to 
the  glory  of  the  Passion  of  Christ.  For  the 
Passion  of  Christ  was  an  oblation  and  satisfac- 
tion, not  only  for  original  guilt  but  also  for 
all  other  sins.  .  .  .  Christ  commands  that  we 
should  do  this  in  remembrance  of  Him  ; 
wherefore  the  Mass  was  instituted  in  order 
that,  in  those  who  use  the  Sacrament,  faith 
might  remember  what  benefits  it  receives 
through  Christ,  and  might  raise  and  console 
the  fearful  conscience.  For  to  remember  Christ 
is  to  remember  His  benefits,  and  to  feel  that 
they  are  truly  offered  to  us.  Nor  is  it  enough 
to  remember  the  history,  for  this  even  the 
Jews  and  the  godless  can  do.  But  the  Mass 
is  to  be  celebrated  for  this  purpose,  that  in  it 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  69 

the  Sacrament  may  be  offered  to  those  who 
have  need  of  consolation  ;  as  Ambrose  says, 
Because  I  always  sin,  I  ought  always  to  receive 
the  remedy.  And  since  the  Mass  is  thus  a 
communication  of  the  Sacrament,  there  is  ob- 
served among  us  one  common  Mass  on  every 
holy  day,  and  also  on  other  days,  if  any  desire  to 
receive  the  Sacrament,  and  it  is  given  to  those 
who  seek  it.  And  this  is  no  new  custom  in 
the  Church,  for  the  ancients,  before  Gregory, 
make  no  mention  of  private  Mass,  but  speak 
everywhere  of  the  common  Mass.  Chrysostom 
says,  that  the  priest  stands  daily  at  the  altar, 
and  invites  some  to  the  Communion  and  warns 
others  away.  .  .  .  And  Paul  gives  this  direction 
respecting  the  Communion,  that  they  should 
wait  one  for  the  other,  so  that  there  might  be 
a  common  participation." 

It  is  observable,  and  is  made  a  matter  of 
complaint  in  the  '  Papal  Confutation,  '  that 
nothing  is  directly  said  of  a  sacrifice  being 
offered  in  the  Mass  ;  and  it  is  explained  in  the 
'  Apology  for  the  Confession  '  that  this  omis- 
sion was  deliberately  made  on  account  of  the 
ambiguity  of  the  word  '  sacrifice  '.  "  It  may 
mean,"  says  the  '  Apology,'  "  either  a  sacrifice 


70  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH 

of  propitiation  or  a  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving, " 
and  it  is  there  explained  that  the  Reformers 
denied  that  there  was  any  sacrifice  of  propit- 
iation, or  of  satisfaction  for  sin,  ofi^ered  in  the 
Mass,  but  only  a  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving,  and 
of  ourselves,  our  bodies  and  souls,  in  response 
to  the  gracious  sacrifice  of  Christ  v^hich  we  are 
commemorating. 

It  will,  therefore,  be  clearly  seen,  upon  the 
whole,  what  was  the  eff^ect  of  the  Reformed 
doctrine  upon  the  view  taken  of  this  great 
central  mystery  of  the  Church,  according  to  the 
Confession  of  Augsburg.  While  retaining  the 
belief  that  it  was  in  a  certain  sense  a  sacrifice, 
the  Lutheran  Reformers  denied  that  it  was  in 
any  sense  a  propitiatory  sacrifice,  and  they 
regarded  it  primarily  as  the  means  for  making 
Christians  partakers  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of 
our  Lord,  which,  they  say,  is  really  present  and 
really  distributed  to  those  who  partake.  In 
short,  the  idea  of  Communion,  and  of  the 
blessings  received  in  Communion,  is  made  the 
predominant  idea  ;  and  accordingly,  as  a  natural 
consequence,  the  word  Mass^  inseparably  asso- 
ciated with  the  old  conception,  falls  into  disuse, 
and  the  Sacrament  becomes    more  and  more 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  71 

known  as  the  Holy  Communion  or  the  Holy 
Supper. 

A  similar  transformation  passed  over  other 
ceremonies  and  practices.  Private  confession, 
for  instance,  was  retained  by  the  Lutherans  ; 
but  the  important  part  of  it  became,  not  the 
confession,  but  the  absolution.  The  object 
which  became  predominant  in  the  practice  was 
not  that  a  man  should  enumerate  his  sins,  which 
was  expressly  stated  to  be  unnecessary  ;  but  that 
he  should  receive  the  promise  of  God's  absolu- 
tion at  the  hands  of  God's  minister,  and  thus 
have  his  faith  confirmed  in  God's  forgiveness. 
The  mischief  of  monastic  vows  is  taught  to 
consist  in  the  belief,  on  which  they  were  at 
least  too  largely  founded,  that  their  observance 
was  a  specially  meritorious  work,  so  as  to  be 
the  means  of  obtaining  forgiveness,  not  only 
for  those  who  professed  them,  but  for  others. 
Rules  about  the  use  of  food  are  taught  to  be 
mischievous,  if  they  are  looked  on  as  meritor- 
ious, and  not  as  simple  means  of  discipline.  In 
short,  every  state  of  life,  lay  as  well  as  eccle- 
siastical, the  life  and  work  of  the  father  and 
mother,  the  child  and  the  servant,  as  much  as 
that  of  the  priest   or  the  monk,  was  brought 


72  JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH 

under  this  wide  heaven  of  the  grace  and  forgive- 
ness of  God;  and  thus  the  whole  of  life,  with 
all  its  functions  and  duties,  was  made  a  school 
of  perfection.  The  practical  effect  is  sum- 
marily stated  in  the  following  passage  from  the 
Confession,^  with  which  this  review  of  the 
original  and  essential  principles  of  Protestantism 
may  be  fitly  concluded  : — 

"  The  precepts  of  God  and  the  true  worship 
of  God  are  obscured,  when  men  hear  that 
monks  alone  are  in  a  state  of  perfection  ;  for 
Christian  perfection  is  seriously  to  fear  God, 
and  further  to  conceive  great  faith  in  Him,  and 
to  trust,  for  Christ's  sake,  that  we  have  God 
appeased  ;  to  ask  of  God,  and  surely  to  expect 
His  help  in  all  things  we  do,  according  to  our 
vocation,  and  meanwhile  diligently  to  do  good 
works  abroad,  and  to  serve  in  our  vocation.  In 
these  things  is  true  perfection  and  the  true 
worship  of  God,  not  in  celibacy,  or  mendicity, 
or  in  a  sordid  dress.  .  .  .  There  are  examples 
of  men  who  have  abandoned  marriage,  deserted 
the  administration  of  their  country,  and  hidden 
themselves  in  monasteries.  This  they  called 
flying  from  the  world,  and  seeking  a  kind  of 

^  Part  ii.,  art.  vi. 


ENGLISH  PROTESTANTISM  73 

life  which  would  be  more  pleasing  to  God  ; 
and  they  did  not  see  that  God  is  to  be  served  in 
those  commands  which  He  has  Himself  deliv- 
ered, not  in  commands  which  have  been 
invented  by  men.  That  is  a  good  and  perfect 
life  which  has  the  command  of  God.  " 

Such  is  the  Protestant  ideal,  as  stated  in  its 
original  and  primitive  documents.  This  is  the 
ideal  which,  in  its  great  outlines,  commended 
itself  to  Englishmen  at  the  time  of  the  Refor- 
mation, and  of  which  the  adoption  proved  the 
commencement  of  a  new  era  in  the  life  of  the 
nation  as  well  as  in  the  life  of  individuals.  It 
is  in  this  sense  that  the  English  nation  is  a 
Protestant  nation,  and  that  a  Church  which  is  j 
to  be  the  National  Church  of  England  must  be 
Protestant  too.  In  days  when  this  Protestant 
character  of  the  Church  of  England  is  quest- 
ioned, it  is  a  satisfaction  to  remember  that  it 
has  been  solemnly  asserted,  not  only  in  Statutes 
of  the  Realm,  but  by  both  Houses  of  the 
Convocation  of  Canterbury,  at  a  critical  mo- 
ment of  the  history  of  the  English  Church. 
In  1689,  in  response  to  a  message  from  King 
William  III,  the  Bishops  had  proposed  to  thank 
his  Majesty  for  the  zeal  he  showed  "  for  the 


74  ENGLISH  PROTESTANTISM 

Protestant  religion  in  general  and  the  Church 
of  England  in  particular.  "  In  this  expression 
they  were  echoing  the  words  of  the  king  him- 
self, in  whose  mouth  they  were  very  natural. 
The  Lower  House,  not  less  naturally,  preferred 
that  the  Church  of  England  should  be  foremost 
in  the  thoughts  of  a  King  of  England,  and 
induced  the  Upper  House  to  vary  the  phrase. 
But  they  went  even  further  than  the  Upper 
House  had  proposed  in  asserting  their  Protestant 
sympathies.  The  address,  as  finally  agreed  to 
and  subscribed  by  both  Houses,  says  that, 
"  We,  the  Bishops  and  Clergy  of  the  Province 
of  Canterbury,  in  Convocation  assembled,  ha- 
ving received  a  most  gracious  message  from 
your  Majesty,  hold  ourselves  bound  in  duty  and 
gratitude  to  return  our  most  humble  acknow- 
ledgments for  the  same,  and  for  the  pious  zeal 
and  care  your  Majesty  is  pleased  to  express 
therein  for  the  honour,  peace,  advantage,  and 
establishment  of  the  Church  of  England,  where- 
by^ we  doubt  not^  the  interest  of  the  Protestant 
religion  in  all  other  Protestant  Churches^  which  is 
dear  to  us,  will  be  the  better  secured.  "  ^  Thus 
formally,  in  those  critical  days,  did  the  Church 

^  Cardwells  Synodalia,  pp.  696-698. 


ENGLISH  PROTESTANTISM  75 

of  England  associate  itself  with  "  all  other 
Protestant  Churches, ''  and  thus  distinctly  did 
its  representatives  proclaim  that  "  the  interest 
of  the  Protestant  religion  "  was  "dear  to  them. " 
May  that  interest  now  and  ever  be  dear  to  it, 
and  may  it  never  cease  to  be  similarly  associated 
with  "  all  other  Protestant  Churches.  " 


THE   COURSE 

OF  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY   IN 

THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY 


In  the  sixteenth  century  the  chief  religious 
forces  which  have  since  moved  the  v^orld 
burst  into  action  with  a  primal  energy.  It  was 
a  century  during  which,  in  a  singular  degree, 
the  chief  motive  powers  of  Europe  were 
simultaneously  at  work  ;  in  which  German 
originality,  and  Swiss  independence,  and  French 
organization,  and  English  comprehensiveness, 
were  all  brought  into  action  on  the  same 
supreme  subject  ;  the  controversies  being  dif- 
fused, and  the  conflicts  at  the  same  time  con- 
centrated, by  the  use  of  a  single  learned 
language  ;  so  that  all  the  various  national  and 
personal  influences,  which  now,  notwithstand- 
ing all  our  means  of  communication,  it  takes 


IN  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY      77 

years  to  bring  face  to  face  with  one  another, 
were  in  immediate  contact.  The  presence  of 
foreign  professors,  like  Erasmus  and  Peter 
Martyr,  at  our  own  Universities,  is  but  a 
striking  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  all 
the  elements  of  life  and  thought  were  brought 
together  in  one  long  struggle  at  that  time  ; 
only,  alas  !  to  be  too  much  separated  again, 
by  the  action  of  the  Reformation  itself  in 
developing  national  churches  and  national  im- 
pulses, and  thus  breaking  the  bonds,  both  of 
language  and  religion,  by  which  Europe  had 
become  so  closely  united.  An  attempt  to 
sketch,  even  in  outline,  this  vast  scene  of 
theological  convulsion  would  be  involved  in 
inextricable  difficulties,  amidst  which  all  prac- 
tical interest  would  too  probably  be  lost.  It 
is  proposed,  therefore,  in  the  following  pages,  to 
endeavour  to  illustrate,  by  means  of  the  leading 
controversies,  some  of  the  great  principles  which 
were  at  work,  and  thus  to  point  out,  perhaps, 
the  cardinal  truths  and  realities  which,  though 
often  unconsciously,  are  the  real  centres  of  our 
struggles  at  the  present  day.  A  writer  of 
distinction  spoke  not  long  ago  of  "  the  arid 
theology  "    of   the    sixteenth    century.      The 


78  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

expression  recalls  a  criticism  of  the  historian 
Hallam  on  "  Romeo  and  Juliet,  "  which  he 
describes  as  full  of  "  frigid  conceits.  "  They 
are  conceits,  no  doubt  ;  but  the  man  must  be 
singularly  constituted  who  regards  them  as 
frigid.  In  the  same  way  the  sixteenth  century 
is  full  of  theologies  ;  but  a  man  must  have  a 
strange  view  of  human  nature  and  human 
history  who  can  call  them  arid.  At  all  events, 
they  split  Europe  into  two  great  camps,  which 
have  been  more  or  less  at  war  ever  since ;  they 
evoked  new  and  momentous  forces  in  the 
Roman  camp  as  well  as  in  the  Protestant  ;  they 
opened  the  springs  of  new  religious  ideals,  new 
literatures,  new  devotions — in  a  word,  new 
worlds.  It  is  not  from  arid  sands  that  such 
fruits  spring.  Let  us  endeavour  to  appreciate 
in  some  measure  the  influences  which  gave 
birth  to  such  results. 

Consider,  in  the  first  place,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  impulse  from  which  the  whole  move- 
ment started.  If  we  look  at  it  from  the  point 
of  view  of  a  statesman,  it  is  obvious  that  the 
first  great  public  act  in  the  momentous  history 
is  the  Diet  of  Worms  of  ij;2i.  From  that 
moment  the  authority,  not  only  of  the  Pope, 


IN  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY      79 

but  of  the  Emperor,  was  challenged,  and  was 
successfully  held  in  check  in  one  at  least  of  the 
great  States  of  the  Empire,  not  merely  by  a 
religious  reformer,  but  by  the  powerful  and 
authoritative  Prince  who  was  at  the  head  of 
that  State.  From,  that  moment  the  Empire, 
and  the  Church  within  the  Empire,  was  no 
longer  at  one,  and  the  long  series  of  public 
acts  commenced  by  which  the  Protestant  world 
was  called  into  existence  and  consolidated. 
Upon  that  followed  in  the  next  ten  years  the 
memorable  Diets  of  Augsburg  and  Spires,  and 
upon  them  the  various  leagues,  treaties,  wars, 
councils,  and  synods  in  which  the  principles 
and  results  of  the  Reformation  were  developed 
and  settled.  But  the  Diet  of  Worms  centres 
around  Luther,  and  it  is  in  the  action  taken  with 
respect  to  him,  by  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor 
on  the  one  side  and  the  Elector  of  Saxony 
on  the  other,  that  its  vital  importance  consists. 
This,  however,  is  but  the  political  aspect 
of  the  fact  that  the  motive  ideas  of  the 
Reformation  arose  out  of  Luther's  teaching 
and  experience.  No  other  influence  had  re- 
ally threatened  either  the  Pope's  authority  or  ^ 
Roman  doctrine.      The  new  learning  of  hu- 


8o  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

manism,  even  in  the  keen  and  satirical  hands 
of  Erasmus,  had  not  been  able  to  effect  any 
practicable  breach  in  the  great  fortifications  of 
antiquity,  wealth,  and  power  within  which  the 
existing  ecclesiastical  system  was  entrenched. 
That  system  had  a  profound  hereditary  hold  on 
the  minds  and  the  spiritual  apprehensions  of 
men.  They  might  distrust  it  or  dislike  it  ; 
but,  in  Butler's  phrase,  they  were  not  so  certain 
that  there  was  nothing  in  it  ;  and  when  any 
dispute  with  it  came  to  the  final  issue,  they 
were  not  prepared  to  defy  it,  with  all  the 
possible  consequences.  But  Luther  succeeded 
in  convincing  a  number  of  strong  men  that  it 
might  be  defied  ;  he  defied  it  himself,  and  he 
laid  down  the  principles  on  which  his  sup- 
porters might  stand  in  maintaining  a  similar 
.4efiance.  We  have  to  look,  therefore,  to  the 
(cardinal  principles  of  Luther's  teaching  if  we 
jare  to  understand  the  germ  from  which  the 
iReformation  sprang.  In  a  still  higher  degree 
must  we  look  to  that  teaching  if  we  are  to 
appreciate  the  main  currents  of  the  reformed 
theology.  There  were  other  theblogical  in- 
fluences, of  course,  side  by  side  with  his  ;  but 
until  his  death,  in  i  546,  his  voice  was  certainly 


IN  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY      8i 

the  most  potent  in  the  theological  controversies 
of  his  day  ;  and  even  after  his  death  his  teach- 
ing became,  in  great  measure,  the  touchstone 
by  which  a  large  part  of  the  reformed  theology 
was  tested. 

What,  then,  were  the  great  principles  with 
which  Luther  gave  this  new  influence  to  the 
world  ?  It  is  a  received  maxim  on  this  subject 
that  the  Reformation  rests  on  two  principles 
— a  formal  and  a  material  one  ;  the  formal  one  -^ 
being  the  supreme  authority  of  the  Scriptures,'/  ^^* 
and  the  material  one  being  the  doctrine  ofjj  ^^ 
justification  by  faith.  That  maxim  is  true'  ""^ 
enough  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  it  does  not  take 
us  to  the  root  of  the  matter.  As  to  the  formal 
principle,  that  of  the  supreme  authority  of  the 
Scriptures,  not  only  had  it  been  asserted  by 
men  like  WyclifFe  and  Hus,  but  we  find 
St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  under  the  first  question 
of  his  "  Summa,  "  in  Article  VIII,  laying 
down  that  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures  in 
any  discussion  carries  with  it  the  weight  of 
necessary  argument,  whereas  the  authority  of 
the  doctors  of  the  Church  has  merely  the  force 
of  subsidiary  and  probable  argument  ;  and  he 
quotes   the    saying    of   St.    Augustine   which 


82  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

played  so  large  a  part  in  subsequent  Protestant 
discussion  :  "  Solis  eis  Scripturarum  libris^  qui 
canonici  appellantur^  didici  hunc  timorem 
honoremque  deferre,  ut  nullum  auctorem  eorum 
in  scribendo  errasse  a  liquid  Jirmissime  credam,,. 
alios  autem  ita  lego^  ut  quantalibet  sanctitate 
doctrinaque  prcepolleant^  non  ideo  verum  putem 
quod  ipsi  senserunt^  vel  scrip serunty  Perhaps, 
indeed,  it  was  not  until  the  Council  of  Trent 
J^  that  this  principle  was  formally  disregarded 
by  the  Church  of  Rome.  It  was  a  principle 
which  came  to  the  front  in  the  course  of  con- 
troversy, but  it  did  not  constitute  the  vital 
germ  of  Reformation  life  and  thought.  That 
is  to  be  seen  in  the  other  principle,  justly 
called  the  material  one,  of  justification  by  faith, 
which  accordingly  became  of  necessity  the 
watchword  of  the  controversy. 

But  it  is  requisite  to  look  even  beyond  this 
principle,  to  its  first  apprehension  in  Luther's 
experience,  if  we  are  duly  to  appreciate  its 
import.  What  had  brought  this  principle 
into  such  prominence  and  intensity  in  Luther's 
^.  consciousness  ?  It  was  not  any  theological  con- 
troversy, not  the  pressure  of  any  scholastic 
argument,  not  the  dispute  about  indulgences. 


IN  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY      83 

nor  any  other  public  occasion  whatever;  it  was  ^^ 
simply  his  personal  spiritual  experience  in 
realizing  the  relation  of  his  soul  to  God.  The 
craving  of  his  soul,  to  which  every  other  was 
secondary,  was  for  peace  with  God,  and  for 
assurance  of  the  love  of  God.  To  obtain  this 
peace  he  had  entered  a  monastery,  and  submitted 
himself  for  years,  with  the  utmost  strictness,  to 
its  hard  discipline  ;  but  he  failed  to  assure  him- 
self of  peace  with  God.  He  remained  sensible 
of  his  sin,  of  the  deep  imperfection  attaching  to 
all  his  efforts,  even  the  best  ;  and  he  felt  him- 
self unworthy  of  God's  favour  and  love.  The 
main  point  was  that  it  was  not  enough  for 
him  that  his  faults  and  sins  should  be  forgiven, 
in  the  sense  of  due  satisfaction  being  made  for 
them,  either  here  or  hereafter,  in  this  life  or 
in  purgatory.  For  the  penalties  of  sin  he 
cared  comparatively  little  ;  the  great  trouble 
was  that  sin  stood  between  himself  and 
God,  and  prevented  his  living  in  the  assured 
sense  of  God's  favour.  The  forgiveness  he 
cared  for  was  not  a  material  but  a  personal 
forgiveness.  As  he  himself  put  it,  in  one  of 
his  paradoxical  sayings  :  "  A  man  forgiven  by 
God  would  feel  himself  in  heaven  although  in 


84  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

hell,  and  a  man  not  forgiven  by  God  would 
feel  himself  in  hell  although  in  heaven."  The 
personal  relation  of  mutual  love  and  trust 
between  himself  and  God  was  what  he  cared 
for,  and  what  he  was  striving  for,  and  this 
seemed  to  him  to  be  rendered  impracticable 
by  his  inveterate  sin  and  corruption. 
y  It  is  the  idea  of  this  personal  relation  which 
it  is  essential  to  grasp  with  full  distinctness  and 
intensity  if  the  cardinal  doctrine  of  the  Refor- 
mation is  to  be  realized.  It  is  quite  possible/ 
to  work  out  a  whole  system  of  theolog)j 
without  apprehending  this  personal  relation, 
or  taking  any  practical  account  of  it.  God 
may  be  regarded  as  the  Supreme  Judge,  the 
Father  of  our  spirits,  but  at  an  unapproachable 
distance  ;  and  the  soul's  relation  to  Him  may 
be  mainly  regarded  as  that  of  a  subject  to  a 
sovereign,  or,  if  that  of  a  child  to  a  father, 
yet  of  a  child  held  at  too  great  a  distance  to 
have  intimate  personal  relations  with  its  parent. 
So  far  as  this  is  the  case,  the  sense  of  sin  and 
guilt  becomes  the  sense  of  having  incurred  an 
incapacity  or  a  penalty,  and  the  urgent  question 
is  in  what  way  each  particular  sin  or  failure 
can  be  atoned  for,  or  have  amends  made  for  it. 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  85 

The  sense  of  intimate  personal  relationship  may 
be  hardly  realized  as  possible,  and  the  absence  of 
it,  consequently,  may  not  be  a  perpetual  grief. 

This  is  really  the  key  to  the  whole  of  that  ^ 
Roman  and  ecclesiastical  system  of  penance, 
confession,  and  satisfaction,  against  which  the 
Reformation  waged  such  war.  It  was  a  system 
for  making  amends  and  procuring  pardon  for 
particular  sins ;  and  from  that  point  of  view 
it  had  a  certain  reasonableness,  or  could  at 
least  be  presented  in  a  fairly  reasonable  form. 
But  to  the  great  mass  of  men  and  women  who 
submitted  to  it,  the  question  of  their  personal 
relation  to  God  no  more  arose  in  their  minds 
than  the  question  of  their  personal  relation  to 
the  Emperor  in  the  case  of  their  violating  some 
imperial  ordinance.  The  Emperor  personally 
was  nothing  to  them,  nor  they  to  him,  except 
so  far  as  they  came  into  conflict  with  his 
authority  in  respect  to  the  particular  ordinance 
in  question  ;  and  all  that  he  expected  of  them 
was  that  they  should  bear  the  punishment,  or 
make  the  amends,  which  the  law  or  the  ordi- 
nance required.  Even  the  recognised  and 
important  distinction  between  culpa  and  pcena^ 
guilt  and  punishment,  did  not  necessarily  touch 


86  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

the  central  point  of  the  matter.  Culpa^  or  guilt, 
might  be  regarded  as  simply  a  standing  liability 
to  poena^  or  punishment,  until  the  requisite 
amends  were  made.  It  need  not  involve,  and 
under  the  prevalent  feeling  now  under  conside- 
ration it  did  not  involve,  that  sense  of  personal 
disfavour,  of  the  loss  of  peace  and  communion 
with  a  beloved  person,  which  is  the  craving  from 
which  the  reformed  principle  takes  its  rise.  A 
similar  point  may  be  considered  in  reference  to 
\}ci^  v^oxdi  forgiveness^  which  has  practically  two 
meanings,  or  a  double  meaning.  It  may  mean 
the  remission  of  a  penalty,  the  passing  over  of 
an  offence,  with  scarcely  any  reference  to  per- 
sonal relations  between  the  person  who  forgives 
and  the  person  who  is  forgiven.  But  it  may 
also  mean  the  restoration  of  personal  relations, 
with  scarcely  any  reference  to  the  remission  or 
removal  of  the  material  consequences  of  the 
offence.  In  family  relations  there  may  be  of- 
fences of  which  the  consequences  are  irreparable, 
and  for  which  the  offender  must  permanently 
suffer,  but  which  may,  nevertheless,  be  perfectly 
forgiven,  in  the  sense  of  entire  love,  confidence, 
and  favour  being  re-established  between  the 
offending  and  the  offended  relatives. 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  87 

Now,  this  is  the  distinction  which  was 
brought  out  with  a  new  vividness  by  Luther's 
consciousness  and  Luther's  experience,  and 
which  gave  rise  to  the  revived  apprehension 
of  St.  Paul's  doctrine  of  justification.  He 
wanted  to  know  whether  he  could  be  assured 
of  his  personal  acceptance  with  God  ;  whether 
he  could  be  taken  again  to  his  Father's  heart, 
and  live  in  the  light  of  his  Father's  counte- 
nance. That,  he  was  sure,  he  could  not  know, 
he  could  not  claim,  upon  the  ground  of  his 
own  condition,  or  upon  the  basis  of  any  obe- 
dience of  his  own.  Justification  meant  being 
forgiven  in  the  personal  sense  of  the  word — 
taken  into  favour,  given  the  position  of  a  good 
child  in  the  heavenly  Father's  household,  or, 
in     technical    language,    accounted    righteous 

// before    God.  _It   did  not    mean,  and  does  not 

'^fnean,  forgiveness  in  the  mere  material  sense 
of  being  relieved  from  all  the  penalties  of  sin. 
Many  of  those  penalties  may  be  permanent  in 
this  world,  and  may  have  their  efi^ect  on  our 
position  in  the  final  judgment  ;  but  they  need 
not  interfere  with  the  blessed  personal  relations 
towards  God  of  filial  confidence,  trust,  love, 
and  perfect  peace. 


88  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

Now,  justification,  conceived  in  this  sense, 
can  only  be  an  act  of  personal  grace,  and  it 
may  be,  and  in  human  relations  it  often  must 
be,  granted  from  motives  which  are  quite 
independent  of  the  merits  or  acts  of  the  person 
to  whom  it  is  offered.  It  may  be  offered  to 
a  son  for  the  sake  of  his  mother,  to  a  husband 
or  wife  for  the  sake  of  a  child,  to  another  for 
the  sake  of  a  friend  ;  but  whatever  the  cause 
for  which  it  is  offered,  there  is  one  thing 
indispensable  to  its  enjoyment,  which  is  at  the 
same  time  the  only  means  by  which  it  can  be 
enjoyed.  It  must  be  believed  and  accepted. 
Not  to  believe  or  accept  a  forgiveness  thus 
offered  is,  indeed,  a  renewed  offence  of  the 
highest  kind  ;  it  is  a  refusal  of  love,  an  act  of 
ingratitude,  which  must  cause  a  greater  personal 
separation  than  ever.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
if  it  is  accepted,  it  must  be  accepted  simply  as 
an  act  of  grace  ;  and,  though  it  involves  the 
highest  obligations  for  the  future,  yet  to 
attempt,  in  accepting  it,  to  plead  any  merits 
of  one's  own,  past,  present,  or  future,  would  be 
felt  among  human  beings  to  be  evidence  of  a 
total  want  of  appreciation  of  the  grace  with 
which  the  forgiveness  is  offered.      Such  is  the 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  89 

gracious,  natural,  human  analogy,  by  which 
the  doctrine  of  justification  for  Christ's  sake  by- 
faith  only  may  be  best  illustrated.  If  a  father 
may  offer  forgiveness  to  a  son  for  his  mother's 
sake,  we  may  well  conceive  of  God  as  offering 
us  forgiveness  for  Christ's  sake,  for  Christ's 
love,  Christ's  suffering,  Christ's  perfect  obe- 
dience ;  and  in  this  sense  the  righteousness  of 
Christ  may  well  be  regarded  as  covering  us, 
and  being  imputed  to  us,  not  in  any  fictitious 
sense,  but  as  the  offering  for  the  sake  of  which 
God  receives  us  again  into  His  favour,  and 
admits  us  to  communion  with  Him,  if  we  do 
but  believe  Him  and  accept  His  love,  with  all 
it  involves  and  requires.  It  may,  perhaps,  be 
said,  in  passing,  that  there  seems  something 
more  natural  and  reasonable  than  appears  often 
to  be  realized  in  the  old  theological  language 
respecting  our  Saviour's  having  fulfilled  the 
law  for  us,  not  only  by  His  death,  but  by  His 
life,  and  having  thus  given  satisfaction  to  God's 
justice.  It  seems  evident,  at  least,  that  if  the 
human  race  had  not  presented  one  single 
instance  of  the  fulfilment  of  the  law  of  its 
nature,  if  every  being  in  human  form  had 
failed  to  realize  the  Divine  ideal,  it  would  have 


90  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

been  impossible  for  Divine  satisfaction  to  have 
rested  on  such  a  race.  Whereas,  on  the  other 
hand,  when  that  ideal  had  once  been  realized, 
an  earnest  had  at  least  been  afforded  of  the 
Divine  purpose,  and  God  could  once  more  say 
of  the  nature,  at  least,  which  He  had  created, 
that  it  was  very  good. 

But  we  are  not  here  concerned,  as  a  matter 
of  controversy,  with  the  arguments  on  which 
the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faijh  rests,  except 
so  far  as  is  necessary  to  illustrate  its  meaning 
.  as  the  starting-point  of  the  reformed  theology. 
The  considerations  which  have  been  adduced 
are  of  importance  as  illustrating  the  fact,  that 
the  cardinal  principle  of  the  Reformation  was 
the  revival  in  men  of  a  sense  of  their  personal 
relation  to  God,  as  the  beginning  and  the  end, 
the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  of  their  religious 
life.  But  unless  it  could  be  proclaimed  to 
them  that  that  relation  was  one  of  peace  and 
love,  it  would  have  been  impracticable  to 
revive  such  a  sense.  Unless  men  have  the 
assurance  that  they  are  at  peace  with  God, 
they  inevitably  shrink  from  Him.  They  hide 
themselves  among  the  trees  of  the  garden  of 
the    world    whenever    they    hear    His   voice. 


JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH  91 

They  may  set  up,  and  may  develop  infinitely, 
ecclesiastical  systems  for  acquittal  and  discharge 
from  His  judgments  ;  but  they  will  not  dare 
to  take  His  hand,  as  it  were,  and  look  up  to 
Him  face  to  face,  and  live  in  assured  trust  and 
love  towards  Him.  Yet  it  is  this  latter  feeling 
which  is  necessary  to  bring  out  the  full  strength 
of  the  human  soul.  It  is  only  when  a  man  can 
say,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  words,  "  O  Lord, 
my  Strength  and  my  Redeemer,  "  when  he  is 
assured  that  the  eternal  God  is  his  refuge,  and 
that  underneath  him  are  the  everlasting  arms, 
that  the  full  truth,  energy,  and  independence  of 
his  nature  can  be  exerted.  But  this  is  the  new 
life  which  was  revived  in  Christendom  by  the 
exhibition  of  the  truth  of  justification  by  faith. 
It  was  not  merely  proclaimed,  it  was  exhibited 
in  action.  The  denunciation  of  indulgences, 
and  the  long  controversy  which  followed,  had 
the  eff^ect  of  gradually  familiarizing  the  minds 
of  all  thoughtful  and  earnest  men  with  the  grand 
truth,  that  they  could  all  claim  the  forgiveness, 
the  favour  and  the  love  of  God,  whenever  they 
believed  His  promises  for  Christ's  sake,  and 
would  accept  them.  An  enormous  cloud  of 
apprehension  was  lifted  oiF  their  minds,  and  they 


92  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

were  able  to  look  even  the  Papal  system  in  the 
face,  and  to  act  on  their  own  consciences,  in 
defiance  of  all  consequences,  whether  in  this 
world  or  in  the  next. 

This  revived  sense  of  peace  with  God  became 
everything  to  them,  and  altered  all  the  propor- 
tions of  their  religious  and  moral  life.  It 
explains  the  reason  for  much  that  might  other- 
wise seem  barren  controversy  respecting  such 
questions  as  the  relation  of  faith  and  good 
j  works.  What  was  really  at  issue,  in  all  the 
I  disputes  which  prevailed  on  that  subject  during 
/  the  sixteenth  century,  was  not  so  much  the 
truth  as  the  balance  of  truth.  The  history  of 
religion  exhibits  a  perpetual  oscillation  between 
the  relative  attractions  of  the  first  Command- 
ment and  the  second.  Our  Lord  said  that  the 
first  of  all  the  Commandments  is  :  "  Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind.  '' 
"  This,  "  He  said,  "  is  the  first  and  great  Com- 
mandment, and  the  second  is  like  unto  it,  Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.  "  That 
first  Commandment  is  so  high  an  ideal  that 
human  nature  is  constantly  inclined  to  do  un- 
consciously   what    an    eminent    and   beautiful 


THE  NEW  LIFE  93 

writer — the  author  of  "  Ecce  Homo  " — act- 
ually printed,  and  to  act  as  if  our  Lord  had 
said  :  "  The  first  of  all  the  Commandments  is, 
Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.  '*  ^ 
It  is  possible,  at  all  events,  to  pursue  so  earnestly 
a  religion  of  good  works  towards  our  neigh- 
bour, as  to  put  practically  in  the  second  place 
a  religion  of  love  towards  God.  That  was  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  and  is  now,  one  of  the  dangers 
of  the  Roman  system.  Its  orders  of  monks, 
with  their  lives  of  self-sacrifice  for  the  good  of 
others,  may  so  dazzle  the  minds  of  men  and 
women  as  to  make  them  forget  that  the  true 
law  of  human  nature,  as  declared  by  our  Lord, 
is  not  that  we  should  love  our  neighbour  more 
than  ourselves,  but  that  we  should  love  God 
with  the  whole  heart  and  soul,  and  our  neigh- 
bour as  ourselves.  What  was  aimed  at  by  the  ^ 
\  first  principle  of  the  reformers  was  to  restore 
I  the  true  balance  in  this  respect — to  make  trust 
[  in  God,  love  of  God,  peace  with  God,  the 
supreme  object  of  men's  lives.  j 

In  this  effort  their  temptation,  perhaps,  was 

^  "  Ecce  Homo,  "  fifth  edition,  p.  156  :  "To  love  one's 
neighbour  as  one's  self  was,  Christ  said,  the  first  and  greatest 
law.  " 


94  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

to  overweight  the  balance  in  the  other  direc- 
tion. As  Archbishop  Benson  once  said,  if  you 
make  a  ship  roll  too  far  on  one  side,  it  can 
hardly  be  saved  from  sinking  without  rolling 
back,  in  the  first  instance,  too  far  on  the  other. 
But,  at  all  events,  this  is  the  key  to  the  whole 
reformed  teaching  on  the  subject  of  good 
works,  and  when  duly  applied,  it  guards  effec- 
tually against  any  danger  in  that  respect. 
"  Love  God,  "  said  the  Reformers,  "  with  all 
your  heart  and  soul,  and  love  to  your  neigh- 
bour will  follow  "  ;  but  it  is  too  possible,  if 
you  forget  the  proportion  which  our  Lord 
establishes  between  love  to  God  and  love  to 
your  neighbour,  that  your  very  enthusiasm 
for  good  works,  your  very  "  enthusiasm  of 
humanity,  "  as  it  was  called  by  the  writer 
just  mentioned,  may  be  so  exclusively  devel- 
oped, as  to  blind  your  eyes  to  the  nature 
of  your  relation  to  God,  and  thus  gradually 
to  weaken  all  those  higher  qualities  of  the 
human  soul  which  depend  on  your  duly 
realizing  that  relation. 

These  controversies,  in  short,  were  not  con- 
troversies on  points  of  abstract  theology,  but 
between  two  great  conceptions  and  systems  of 


THE  NEW  LIFE  95 

life.  The  reformed  ideal  was  that  of  the  life 
of  men  justified  by  faith,  living,  all  alike,  clergy 
or  laity,  men  or  women,  in  the  faith  and  love,  as 
well  as  the  fear,  of  God,  clinging  to  His  peace 
and  His  communion  as  the  supreme  privilege  of 
their  lives,  and  serving  their  neighbour  in  their 
ordinary  vocations  as  their  duty  might  require. 
On  the  other  side,  taken  as  a  whole,  was  a 
system  of  life  in  which  men  and  women  lived, 
indeed,  in  the  fear  of  God,  but  without  full 
assurance  of  peace  with  Him,  never  assured  of 
their  personal  forgiveness,  always  apprehensive 
of  the  punishments,  in  this  world  and  the  next, 
due  to  their  particular  sins,  and  striving,  by 
heroic  and  often  admirable  efforts  of  self- 
sacrifice  for  their  neighbours,  to  make  amends 
for  their  faults,  and  to  win  some  remission  of 
evil  for  themselves  and  others.  The  struggle, 
however  disguised  under  various  forms  of  con- 
troversy, is  a  struggle  as  to  the  preponderance 
of  the  first  or  the  second  Commandment.  But 
the  first  Commandment  can  never  retain  the 
preponderance  which,  is  given  to  it  by  our 
Saviour  except  on  the  basis  of  the  assurance 
of  the  free  personal  forgiveness  of  the  soul 
for  Christ's  sake.     When  it  knows  that  that 


96  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

forgiveness  is  freely  offered  to  its  faith,  it  can 
give  its  v^hole  heart  to  God  v^ithout  reserve, 
and  then  its  duties  to  its  neighbour  appear  in 
their  natural  form  and  proportion,  and  it  devotes 
itself  to  them  without  exaggeration,  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  ordinary  claims  of  life. 
.  This  consideration,  it  may  be  observed,  will 
explain  the  keenness,  and,  alas  !  sometimes  the 
bitterness,  of  some  of  the  controversies  respect- 
ing the  nature  of  justification  by  faith  which 
arose,  in  the  course  of  the  century,  among  the 
Reformers  themselves,  and  to  which  it  will 
be  sufficient,  from  this  point  of  view,  briefly 
to  refer,  without  pursuing  them  in  detail. 
Such,  in  particular,  was  the  remarkable  contro- 
versy with  Osiander.  He,  although  firmly 
asserting  the  truth  of  our  justification  for 
Christ's  sake,  and  not  for  any  merits  of  our 
own,  yet  urged  that  it  must  be  for  the  sake, 
not  of  what  Christ  had  done  for  us,  but  for 
the  sake  of  that  which  He  produced  in  us,  by 
the  infusion  of  His  own  righteousness,  that 
we  were  accounted  righteous  before  God  ;  in 
fact,  he  practically  revived  that  interpretation 
of  justification  which  treats  it  as  meaning  to 
make  righteous,  instead  of  to  account  righteous. 


THE  NEW  LIFE  97 

Our  Saviour,  he  represented,  had  redeemed  the 
world  by  His  Hfe  and  death,  and  had  thus 
made  our  justification  possible  ;  but  we  can 
enjoy  that  justification  only  when,  by  union 
with  Christ  through  faith.  His  Divine  life 
becomes  our  righteousness.  In  technical  lan- 
guage, this  amounted  to  teaching  justification 
by  infused,  instead  of  by  imputed,  righteous- 
ness, and  it  was  at  once  opposed  with  the 
greatest  earnestness  by  the  leading  Reformers, 
including  Melanchthon.  He  urged  at  once 
that  such  a  doctrine  made  our  justification  or 
forgiveness  dependent,  after  all,  on  ourselves, 
on  our  own  condition,  and  not  on  the  sacrifice 
made  for  us  by  Christ.  Osiander's  teaching, 
he  said,  withdraws  the  honour  due  to  the 
Mediator,  obscures  the  grievous  nature  of  the 
sin  which  remains  even  in  those  who  are  par- 
takers of  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  destroys 
the  chief  consolation  of  pious  souls,  and  leads 
them  into  a  state  of  perpetual  doubtfulness.  In 
fact,  Osiander's  theory  struck  at  the  very  nerve  of 
the  reformed  doctrine,  because  it  deprived  men 
of  the  right  of  claiming  God's  favour  and  peace 
with  God  for  the  sake  of  Christ  alone,  and 
consequently  of  entering  into  the  enjoyment  of 


98  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

that  peace  immediately  and  without  reserve.*^ 
A  man  must  wait,  according  to  any  such 
theory,  until  he  can  satisfy  himself  that  the 
righteousness  of  Christ  is  duly  working  in  him, 
before  he  can  look  up  to  God  in  full  confi- 
dence as  His  justified  child.  The  danger  and 
mischief  of  it  was  not  that  it  was  a  technical 
theological  error,  but  that  it  barred  the  way  to 
that  life  in  the  light  of  God's  countenance 
which,  from  the  first  moment  of  awakening  in 
the  soul,  the  Reformers  desired  men  to  realize. 
So,  again,  the  contention  of  others,  like  Major, 
that  good  works  were  necessary  to  justification, 
was  similarly  resisted  at  the  outset ;  not  because 
there  was  the  slightest  question,  in  the  minds 
of  any  but  a  few  fanatics,  that  good  works  and 
righteousness  are  an  essential  part  of  a  Christian 
life,  but  because  it  was  essential,  for  the  purpose 
of  maintaining  a  free  relation  of  trust  in  God, 
that  His  forgiveness  should  be  recognised  as 
offered  to  us  of  His  own  grace  and  favour, 
antecedently  to  anything  that  we  have  done  or 
might  do.  In  one  instance  after  another,  the 
Reformers  of  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth 
century  checked  with  the  utmost  earnestness 
any  tendency  to  misapprehend  the  nature  of 


THE  NEW  LIFE  99 

the  forgiveness  and  justification,  of  the  free 
admittance  to  God's  favour,  which  they  pro- 
claimed, or  to  obscure  our  claim  to  it  by- 
putting  forward  any  conditions  for  it  but  the 
merits  of  the  Saviour  Himself.  What  they 
were  guarding  against  was  not  a  mere  erroneous 
doctrine  respecting  the  terms  of  salvation,  but 
the  danger  of  weakening  that  sense  of  peace 
and  free  communion  with  God,  which  was 
the  very  ground  on  which  they  stood  and  the 
air  in  which  they  breathed. 

It  will  be  considered  in  the  sequel  how 
this  principle  worked  itself  out,  in  the  course 
of  the  century,  upon  other  great  theological 
questions,  such  as  the  Sacraments  and  present 
predestination  ;  but,  as  a  conclusion  to  this 
discussion,  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  these 
considerations  materially  affect  the  practical 
character  of  that  "  formal  principle  "  of  the 
Reformation  to  which  reference  was  made  at 
the  outset.  "  The  Word  of  God  "  assumes  a 
new  character  to  men  under  the  conscious 
belief  of  their  immediate  communion  with 
Him,  and  of  their  living  in  the  daily  light  of 
His  countenance.  It  was  one  thing  to  uphold 
the  Scriptures  as  the  supreme  authority,  the 


lOo  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

ultimate  law  of  the  Church,  and  another  thing 
to  regard  them  as  a  daily  lamp  to  the  feet,  and 
a  light  to  the  paths,  of  those  who  were  under 
God's  direct  guidance  and  who  looked  up  to 
Him  for  that  guidance,  day  by  day.  The 
astonishing  feat  by  which,  at  the  very  com- 
mencement of  the  German  movement,  the  New 
Testament,  and  soon  afterwards  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, were  placed,  in  the  vernacular,  at  the 
command  of  the  German  people,  had  an  im- 
mense influence  in  deepening  and  maintaining 
this  result.  Within  a  few  years  after  the  first 
note  had  been  struck,  every  man  and  woman 
who  understood  Luther's  German  had  the  means 
of  living  under  the  daily  influence  of  the  Word 
of  God,  as  contained  in  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
'That  expression,  the  Word  of  God^  did  not  mean 
in  Luther's  mouth,  nor  in  the  mouths  of  the 
Reformers,  merely  the  canon  of  Scripture.  It 
was  not  the  mere  letter  of  the  canon  which 
they  had  in  view,  as  a  fixed  and,  as  it  were, 
legal  authority.  But  God  Himself  was  re- 
cognised as  speaking  in  those  Scriptures  ;  the 
words  of  our  Lord  in  the  New  Testament,  the 
words  which  He  spake  by  holy  men  and 
prophets  in  the  Old  Testament,  were  felt  to  be 


THE  NEW  LIFE  loi 

His  voice,  bringing  those  who  read  them  into 
direct  communion  with  him.  The  Scriptures 
thus  established  and  maintained  a  relation  be- 
tween God  and  man  by  the  same  means  as 
that  by  which  such  personal  relations  are  main- 
tained among  ourselves — by  mutual  voices  and 
assurances.  There  was  thus  a  greater  elasticity 
about  the  conception  than  has  often  prevailed 
in  later  times.      But  one  thine  was  the  centrel^ 

if 

of  all  the  life  and  all  the  teaching  of  the  *^ 
Reformers — that  God  was  speaking  to  them 
as  their  reconciled  Father,  and  that  they  were 
in  direct  communion  with  Him  ;  and  in  that 
faith  they  felt  themselves  independent  of  any 
human  power,  whether  embodied  in  Church 
or  State.  It  was  this  feeling,  above  all,  which 
gave  to  human  life  that  new  impulse  and 
energy,  which  constituted  the  Reformation  so  J 
momentous  an  epoch  in  human  history. 


II 


Let  us  proceed  to  consider  the  manner  in 
which  these  cardinal  principles  of  the  Reformed 
Theology  affected  in  the  course  of  their 
development     the     general     system    and    the 


I02  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

ordinances  of  the  Church.  Of  course,  they 
had  at  once  the  momentous  effect  of  remov- 
ing any  sense  of  necessary  dependence  on 
the  Hierarchy  for  the  highest  of  all  spiritual 
blessings — that  of  peace  with  God,  and  for 
eternal  salvation.  When  peace  v^ith  God  v^as 
recognised  as  open  for  Christ's  sake  to  every- 
one v^ho  v^ould  seek  it  and  accept  it  by  faith, 
it  follov^ed  that  no  one  v^as  dependent  for 
his  salvation  upon  Pope,  Bishop,  or  Priest. 
It  w^as  the  removing  of  this  apprehension 
from  the  popular  mind,  by  means  of  the 
primary  principle  of  the  Reformation,  v^hich 
rendered  it  possible  to  effect  reforms  opposed 
by  the  Hierarchy.  If,  in  any  sense,  the 
Pope,  v^ith  the  clergy  under  his  jurisdiction, 
held  the  keys  of  Heaven,  then,  although  they 
might  be  resisted,  yet,  in  the  last  resort,  it 
w^as  impracticable  to  disobey  them ;  and  it  v^as 
this  apprehension  which  lay,  like  a  paralysis, 
upon  the  nations  of  Europe  for  some  centuries. 
Episcopal  and  priestly  organization  might  be 
indispensable  to  the  best  welfare  of  the  Church; 
and  Melanchthon,  in  his  signature  to  the  Smal- 
caldic  Articles,  expressed  his  willingness  even 
to  recognise  the  Primacy  of  the  Pope,  as   a 


THE  CHURCH  AND  CLERGY       103 

matter  of  human  order,  if  only  he  would  allow 
the  Gospel  to  be  preached.  But  for  the  sal- 
vation of  individual  souls,  and  consequently  for 
the  existence  of  a  community  of  "  those  that 
were  being  saved,  "  here  and  hereafter,  neither 
Pope  nor  Bishop  was  essential.  In  the  familiar 
language  of  English  divines  of  the  Stuart 
period.  Episcopacy  might  be  of  "  the  bene  esse^' 
but  not  of  the  esse  of  a  Church.  The  Roman 
idea  of  a  Church  was  that  it  was  a  visible  body 
in  communion  with  the  Roman  See,  and  in 
which  the  ministers  derived  their  whole  author-: 
ity  through  that  See.  For  this  conception  the! 
reformed  principle  substituted  at  once  the  idea 
which  is  expressed  in  the  Augsburg  Confession, 
and,  in  very  similar  terms,  in  our  own  Nine- 
teenth Article,  that  the  visible  Church  is  a 
congregation  of  faithful  or  believing  men,  "  in 
the  which  the  pure  word  of  God  is  preached, 
and  the  Sacraments  be  duly  ministered  accord- 
ing to  Christ's  ordinance  in  all  those  things 
that  of  necessity  are  requisite  to  the  same.  " 
It  was  also  recognised  in  all  reformed  Churches, 
including  the  English  Church  as  represented 
even  by  such  men  as  Laud  and  Cosin,  that 
Episcopal  Orders,  however  desirable,  were  not 


I04  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

essential  for  that  due  ministration.  On  all 
hands,  therefore,  within  the  Reformed  Com- 
munions, whether  in  Germany,  Switzerland, 
France,  or  England,  it  was  acknowledged  that 
a  true  Church  might  subsist,  although  the  im- 
mediate and  regular  connection  of  its  ministry 
with  the  ancient  episcopal  succession  was 
broken. 

This  momentous  conclusion  involved  one 
danger  which,  perhaps  to  the  great  advantage 
of  the  Reforming  Movement,  was  soon  made 
apparent.  If,  without  sacrificing  the  highest 
interests  of  their  spiritual  salvation,  men  could 
be  independent  of  one  external  organization, 
why  not  of  all  external  ceremonies  ?  Why  not 
of  the  Sacraments,  or  of  the  Scriptures  them- 
selves ?  Why  could  they  not  be  saved  by  the 
simple,  immediate  operation  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  upon  their  souls,  working  in  them  faith 
in  Christ,  and  bringing  them  into  union  with 
Him  ?  This  was  the  Anabaptist  tendency, 
which  broke  out  very  early  in  the  course  of 
the  Reformation,  and  led  not  merely  to  grievous 
religious  fanaticism,  but  to  violent  social  and 
civil  tumults,  which  had  to  be  suppressed  by 
fire  and  sword.     The  effect  was  to  lead  Luther 


THE  WORD  AND  SACRAMENTS    105 

and  his  fellow  reformers  to  reassert  with  the 
utmost  energy  the  principle,  on  which  they 
had  insisted  from  the  first,  that  the  external 
agencies  of  God's  Word  and  the  Sacraments 
were,  by  God's  ordinance,  indispensable  to 
spiritual  life,  to  the  very  existence  of  a  Church, 
and  consequently  to  the  saving  efficacy  of  the 
Gospel.  The  main  principle  of  this  assertion 
is  put  by  Luther  with  characteristic  practical 
force  in  his  observations  on  Baptism  in  his 
larger  catechism.  "  Our  wiseacres  "  he  says,  ^ 
"  with  their  modern  ideas,  make  out  that  faith 
alone  will  save  us,  and  that  work  and  outward 
things  cannot  effect  anything.  Our  answer  is 
that  assuredly  nothing  works  in  us  but  faith, 
as  we  shall  see  from  what  follows.  But  these 
blind  leaders  will  not  see  that  faith  must  have 
something  to  believe — that  is,  to  which  it  can 
cling,  on  which  it  can  stand  and  rest.  So  faith 
clings  to  the  water,  and  believes  that  Baptism 
confers  salvation  and  life,  not  through  the 
water  (as  has  been  sufficiently  said),  but  because 
it  embodies  God's  Word  and  command,  and 
because  His  name  is  attached  to  it.      Now,  in 

^  "  Luther's  Primary  Works,  "  edited  by  Waceand  Buch- 
keim,  p.  134. 


io6  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

believing  this,  what  else  do  I  believe  but  on 
God,  as  on  Him  who  has  added  His  Word  to 
it,  and  given  us  this  outward  sign,  so  that  we 
may  understand  what  a  treasure  we  possess 
in  it  ? 

"  But  there  are  some  people  mad  enough  to 
separate  faith  from  the  sign  to  which  the  faith 
is  joined  and  attached,  because  it  is  an  outward 
thing.  Yea,  it  is  and  must  be  outward,  in 
order  that  we  may  grasp  it  with  our  senses  and 
understand  it,  and  thus  have  it  impressed  on 
our  hearts,  just  as  the  whole  Gospel  is  an  out- 
ward sermon  by  word  of  mouth.  In  brief, 
whatever  God  does  and  effects  in  us  He  accom- 
plishes through  such  outward  means  ;  and, 
whenever  He  speaks,  and  wherever  and  through 
whatsoever  He  speaks,  let  faith  look  to  it  and 
hold  fast  to  it.  " 

So  again,  in  a  classical  passage  in  his  treatise 
"  Against  the  Heavenly  Prophets,  concerning 
Images  and  the  Sacrament,  "  he  says  :  ^  "  God 
of  His  great  goodness  has  again  given  us  the 
pure  Gospel,  the  noble  and  precious  treasure  of 
our  salvation  ;  and  upon  this  gift  must  follow 
inwardly  Faith  and  the  Spirit  in  a  good  con- 
^  "  Luther's  Works,"  Erlangen  Edition,  vol.  xxix,  p.  208. 


THE  WORD  AND  SACRAMENTS    107 

science.  .  .  .  But  the  matter  goes  thus  : 
When  God  sends  His  Holy  Gospel  to  us,  He 
deals  with  us  in  two  ways.  In  the  first  place, 
externally  ;  in  the  second  place,  internally. 
Externally  He  deals  with  us  through  the  spoken 
Word  of  the  Gospel,  and  through  corporal 
signs,  such  as  Baptism  and  the  Sacrament. 
Inwardly  He  deals  with  us  through  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  faith,  with  other  gifts  ;  but  all  in 
due  measure  and  order,  so  that  the  external 
things  should  and  must  come  first,  and  the 
inner  ones  come  afterwards  and  through  the 
external  ones  ;  so  that  He  has  resolved  to  give 
no  man  the  internal  things  except  through  the 
external,  and  He  will  give  no  one  the  Spirit  or 
faith  without  the  external  word  and  sign  which 
He  has  appointed.  " 

Thus  in  Luther's  view,  with  which  all  the 
great  Reformed  Churches  were  in  harmony,  it 
is  an  unalterable  Divine  ordinance  that  spiritual 
life  and  Salvation,  and  the  faith  which  lays  hold 
upon  them,  are  bound  up  with  the  use  of  the 
Word  of  God,  and  of  the  Sacraments  which 
were  instituted  by  Christ.  The  continuity  of 
the  Church,  from  its  foundation  by  our  Lord 
to  the  present  day,  is  thus  guaranteed  by  these 


io8  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

external  ordinances,  which,  from  the  first,  have 
been  passed  on  from  generation  to  generation. 
That  continuity  does  not  depend  upon  the 
perpetual  succession  of  a  special  order  of  indi- 
viduals, but  upon  the  perpetual  succession  of  a 
Society,  all  the  members  of  vs^hich  are  marked 
by  these  seals,  of  the  Word  of  God  and  the 
Sacraments. 

This  consideration  points  to  the  reason  v^hy 
special  emphasis  was  given,  in  all  the  Reform- 
ed Churches,  to  the  two  Sacraments  of  Baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper.  It  arose,  not  from  a 
depreciation  of  the  Sacramental  idea,  but  from 
the  very  opposite  cause — the  exaltation  of  the 
conception  of  a  Sacrament  as  a  Divine  Ordin- 
ance. The  primary  impulse  at  work,  as  shown 
in  the  previous  discussion,  was  to  bring  men 
into  direct  communion  with  God,  to  awaken  in 
their  minds  the  sense  of  that  communion,  and 
to  induce  them  to  live  in  reliance  on  it.  For 
this  purpose  a  solemn  ceremony,  expressly  es- 
tablished by  Christ  Himself,  and  expressly 
ordered  by  Christ  Himself  to  be  repeated  to 
all  time,  appeared  of  the  highest  conceivable 
value.  Baptism  in  Christ's  name,  and  by 
Christ's  authority,  conveyed  a  direct  message 


THE  WORD  AND  SACRAMENTS    109 

from  Christ,  and  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  in  the  words  in  which  our  Saviour 
instituted  it,  the  offering  to  the  faithful,  by 
His  express  command,  of  the  sacred  gifts  which 
He  promised  with  those  words,  could  not  but 
have  the  supreme  value  of  a  direct  message  and 
offer  from  Him. 

It  is  here  that  there  was,  from  the  first,  a 
cardinal  difference  between   the  school  of  the 
Swiss  Reformer  (^2wingli  and  the  main   body  1 
of  the  Reformed  Communions,  whether  Lu- 
theran   or    Calvinistic.      Zwingli's  mind,  like 
that  of  his  countrymen  in  general,  was  plain 
and    practical,    and    indisposed    to    the    more 
mysterious  aspects  of  the  Christian  revelation. 
Luther,   on   the  contrary,  was  marked  by  the 
deep   sense   of  mystery    characteristic    of  the 
highest    German   mind  ;    and    while    Zwingli7 
would  bring  down  heaven  to  earth,  within  the  I 
compass  of  the  intelligence  of  a  Swiss  citizen,  j 
Luther   clung   to   those   aspects   of    Christian  j 
truth  which  lifted  men  above  themselves,  into 
spiritual  and  heavenly  spheres  of  thought  andj 
faith.     The  Swiss  confessions,    indeed,  under 
the  constantly-increasing  influence  of  Calvin, 
approximated  to  the  other  Reformed  Churches 


no  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

in  their  general  view  of  the  Sacraments  ;  but 
Zwingli's  own  disposition  of  mind  towards 
them  was  of  a  far  lower  character,  as  may  be 
illustrated  from  his  treatise  "  De  Vera  et  falsa 
Religione.  "  ^  "A  Sacrament,  "  he  says,  "  can 
be  nothing  else  than  an  initiation  or  public 
consignation,  and  can  have  no  power  to  set  the 
conscience  free  ;  for  the  conscience  can  only  be 
set  free  by  God,  for  it  is  only  known  to  Him, 
and  He  alone  can  penetrate  into  it  ;  .  .  .so 
that  it  is  an  utter  error  to  suppose  that  the 
Sacraments  have  a  purifying  effect.  .  .  .  They 
are  signs  or  ceremonies  by  which  a  man 
approves  himself  to  the  Church  as  a  candidate 
or  soldier  of  Christ,  and  it  is  the  Church  which 
they  assure  of  your  faith  rather  than  yourself. 
.  .  .  Christ  has  left  us  two  Sacraments — 
Baptism  and  the  Supper  of  the  Lord — and  by 
these  we  are  so  consecrated  that  by  the  one  we 
bestow  a  Christian  name  ;  by  the  other,  in 
memory  of  the  victory  of  Christ,  we  approve 
ourselves  to  be  members  of  His  Church.  In 
Baptism  we  receive  a  symbol  that  we  will  frame 
our  life  according  to  the  rule  of  Christ  ;  in  the 
Lord's  Supper  we  give  evidence  that  we  trust 
^  Op.  iii.  229-231. 


THE  WORD  AND  SACRAMENTS    iii 

in  the  death  of  Christ,  when  we  are  thankfully 
and  joyfully  present  in  the  assembly  of  those 
who  are  rendering  thanks  to  the  Lord  for  that 
benefit  of  redemption  which  He  bestowed  on 
us  by  His  death.  "  The  Spirit,  he  maintained, 
needs  no  medium,  and  the  Sacraments,  there- 
fore, should  not  be  regarded  as  channels  of 
Spiritual  grace. 

Some  question  has  been  raised  of  late  as  to 
the  real  nature  of  Zwingli's  views  on  this 
subject,  and  attempts  have  been  made  to 
vindicate  for  him  a  higher  conception  of  the 
office  of  the  Sacraments  than  is  generally  as- 
signed to  him.  He  gave  way,  it  may  be,  from 
time  to  time,  to  the  loftier  views  which  were 
pressed  upon  him  in  the  course  of  his  contro- 
versies with  the  German  Reformers.  But  the 
tendency  of  his  thought  is  clearly  indicated  in 
such  a  passage  as  that  just  quoted.  The  truth 
is,  Zwingli  had  never  gone  through  Luther's 
intense  spiritual  experience.  He  was  a  hu- 
manist rather  than  a  theologian,  and  his  mind 
was  more  congenial  with  Erasmus  than  withl 
Luther.  He  was  asserting  his  countrymen's] 
independence  of  the  Pope  in  much  the  same; 
spirit  in   which  his  ancestors  had   vindicated 


112  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

I  their  independence  of  the  House  of  Austria. 
I  He  was  earnestly  and  honestly  desirous  of 
getting  rid  of  the  superstitions  and  abuses  with 
which  in  his  native  country  the  Roman  Church 
was  discredited  ;  but  he  does  not  exhibit  that 
I  profound  religious  impulse,  towards  reviving  a 
1  personal  relation  with  God,  which  was  the 
(moving  impulse  of  the  German  Reformation. 
■Consequently  the  Sacraments  are  to  him  only 
external  signs  and  symbols  which  must  be  freed 
I  of  superstitious  accessories  ;  but  they  have  no 
special  preciousness  in  his  eyes.  To  Luther 
I — and  to  Calvin  also  in  a  great  degree,  but  to 
Luther  above  all — they,  with  the  Word  of 
God,  are  the  most  precious  things  on  earth. 
They  are  the  very  touch  of  God's  hand,  the 
direct  message  of  Christ.  Where  they  are 
administered,  and  two  or  three  are  gathered 
together  in  His  name,  there  is  He  in  the 
midst  of  them,  dispensing  His  grace,  offering 
forgiveness,  or  bestowing  His  very  flesh  and 
blood  to  be  the  food  of  the  soul.  They  are, 
in  the  first  instance,  acts  of  God,  not  acts  of 
man.  It  is  not  we,  in  the  first  instance,  who 
offer  anything  to  God  in  them  ;  it  is  He  who 
offers  every  spiritual  blessing  to  us. 


THE  WORD  AND  SACRAMENTS    113 

But  this  being  so,  no  ceremony  which  does 
not  rest  upon  a  similarly  direct  appointment  of 
Christ  could  be  admitted  on  a  level  with  the 
two  Sacraments  which  did  rest  upon  that 
appointment.  A  state  of  life  allowed  in  the 
Scriptures,  a  ceremony  due  to  the  appointment 
of  the  Apostles,  such  as  Confirmation,  could 
not  for  a  moment  be  admitted  as  similar  in 
authority  and  importance  to  ceremonies  which 
had  Christ's  express  word  for  them  and  with 
them.  The  distinction,  therefore,  between 
the  two  Sacraments  and  "  those  five  commonly 
called  Sacraments,  "  which  is  characteristic  of 
all  the  Reformed  Churches,  will  be  deemed  of 
importance,  just  in  proportion  as  it  is  felt  to  be 
of  importance  to  assert  that  principle  of  direct 
relation  to  God,  which  lies  at  the  root  of  the 
Reformation.  Under  the  Romish  conception, 
and  others  allied  with  it,  the  Sacraments  are 
channels  through  which  a  mysterious  spiritual 
force  or  grace  is  derived  into  the  soul  ;  and, 
according  to  the  Roman  system,  that  force  or 
grace  may  be  so  derived  by  the  mere  operation 
of  the  ceremony,  without  any  apprehension  by 
the  recipient  of  his  personal  relation  to  Christ 
and  to  God.      Under  that  view,  the  conception 

8 


114  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

of  Sacraments  may  be  indefinitely  extended,  and 
there  seems  no  reason  in  the  nature  of  things 
why  they  should  be  restricted  to  the  number  of 
seven.  But  the  moment  you  regard  it  as 
essential  to  the  idea  and  the  blessing  of  a  Sacra- 
ment that  it  should  be  a  direct  pledge  and 
message  from  Christ  to  the  individual — an  act 
continually  repeated  by  His  express  command 
and  in  His  name — then  the  restriction  of  the 
number  of  ceremonies  properly  called  Sacra- 
ments to  twro  becomes  no  arbitrary  arrange- 
ment, but  a  v^itness  to  one  of  the  highest 
Christian  privileges.  To  put  the  matter  in 
another  form,  which  is  eminently  characteristic 
of  Luther's  thought,  the  two  Sacraments  are 
ceremonies  which  embody  words  or  promises 
of  God.  They  contain  the  whole  word  of 
God,  the  whole  Gospel  in  brief,  and  whoever 
believes  the  promises  they  bring  assuredly  re- 
ceives the  grace  so  promised.  God  speaking 
to  men  and  giving  to  men,  and  men  receiving 
in  thankfulness  and  faith — this  is  the  gracious 
reality  which,  according  to  the  reformed 
theology,  the  Sacraments  exhibit. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  follow  out  this  view  in 
detail  in  respect  to  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER  115 

It  is  sufficiently  illustrated  by  the  brief  passage 
from  Luther's  larger  catechism  which  has  been 
already  quoted ;  and  it  is  a  happy  circumstance 
that,  if  we  put  aside  the  purely  Zwinglian  view 
and  the  exceptional  case  of  the  Anabaptists,  we 
may  say  that  there  was  no  material  controversy 
among  the  Reformers  with  respect  to  the  bless- 
ing conveyed  in  baptism,  or  the  means  by 
which  it  is  received.  Baptism  gave  rise,  at  all 
events,  to  none  of  that  intense  division  which 
was  occasioned  by  the  controversies  respecting 
the  Lord's  Supper.  That  sacred  ordinance  di- 
vided the  Churches  of  the  Reformation  at 
least  as  much  as,  alas  !  it  now  divides  ourselves. 
The  controversies  of  those  days  are  still  alive 
among  us,  and  it  is  important  to  have  some 
clear  conception  of  the  chief  views  which  were 
then  maintained. 

Now,  there  was  one  point  on  which  all  the 
Reformed  Churches  were  agreed,  and  that  was 
that  this  Sacrament  did  not  bear  that  character 
of  a  sacrifice,  in  some  sense  propitiatory,  offered 
to  God,  which  the  Roman  Church  assigned  to 
it.  That  a  sacrifice  is  off^ered  in  it  was,  indeed, 
asserted,  but  it  is  a  "  sacrifice  of  ourselves, 
our  souls  and  bodies,  "  and  there  is  no  sacrifice 


ii6  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

of  a  propitiatory  character  in  the  act  of  cele- 
bration. That  is  the  point  at  which  the  vital 
question  respecting  the  sacrificial  character  of 
the  Eucharist  arises.  Is  the  act  of  consecration 
a  sacrifice  i  To  say  that  there  is  a  sacrifice  of 
thanksgiving  connected  with  the  celebration  is 
one  thing,  and  is  not  denied  ;  it  is  distinctly 
admitted  in  the  "  Apology  for  the  Augsburg 
Confession.  "  But  what  is  denied  is  that  the 
ceremony  which  our  Saviour  instituted,  and  in 
which  His  words  are  employed,  has  a  propi- 
tiatory, or  semi-propitiatory  character,  as  a 
Sacrifice.  Melancthon's  statement  in  that 
authoritative  document  affords,  perhaps,  the 
clearest  exposition  of  the  teaching  of  the  best 
Reformed  Churches  on  the  subject  :  "  Sacra- 
ments," he  says,  under  the  Twelfth  Article,  on 
the  Mass,  "  are  signs  of  the  goodwill  of  God 
towards  us,  and  are  not  simply  signs  of  men 
among  one  another,  and  the  Sacraments  of  the 
New  Testament  are  rightly  defined  as  signs  of 
grace.  And  there  being  two  things  in  a  Sacra- 
ment— the  sign  and  the  word — the  word  of 
the  New  Testament  is  the  promise  of  grace — 
the  promise  of  the  remission  of  sins.  As  our 
Lord  said,  '  This  is  My  body,  which  is  given 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER  117 

for  you  ;  this  cup  is  the  New  Testament  in 
My  blood,  which  is  shed  for  many  for  the  re- 
mission of  sins.  '  The  word,  therefore,  offers 
the  remission  of  sins,  and  the  ceremony  is  Hke 
a  picture  of  the  word,  or  seal  ....  It  was 
instituted  that  the  exhibition  of  it  to  our  eyes 
might  move  our  hearts  to  faith  ....  and  to 
this  end  Christ  instituted  it,  when  He  bids  us 
do  this  in  remembrance  of  Him.  For  to 
remember  Christ  is  not  the  idle  celebration  of 
a  spectacle,  nor  was  such  a  celebration  instituted 
as  a  mere  example  ....  but  it  is  to  remember 
the  benefits  of  Christ,  and  to  accept  them  by 
faith,  that  we  may  be  renewed  by  means  of 
them  ....  Then  comes  the  sacrifice.  After 
the  conscience,  raised  up  by  faith,  is  sensible 
from  what  terrors  it  has  been  liberated,  then 
it  earnestly  returns  thanks  for  the  benefit  and 
passion  of  Christ,  and  uses  the  ceremony  to 
the  praise  of  God,  and  by  its  obedience  shows 
its  gratitude,  and  testifies  that  it  magnifies 
the  grace  of  God  ;  .  .  .  .  and  so  the  ceremony 
becomes  a  sacrifice  of  praise.  "  This  is  in 
harmony  with  the  cardinal  idea  respecting  the 
Sacraments  which  we  have  been  reviewing, 
that  they  are  acts  of  God  towards  us,  more 


ii8  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

than  acts  of  ourselves  towards  God.  In  the 
Holy  Communion  we  "  show  forth  the  Lord's 
death  till  He  come,  "  recalling  and  exhibiting 
to  the  congregation  the  memorials  of  His 
death  and  passion,  and  so  assuring  them  of 
His  love  and  forgiveness,  in  order  that  they 
may  lay  hold  of  that  forgiveness  and  love  with 
ever-increasing  faith  and  fervour.  That  is  one 
great  object  of  the  Holy  Communion.  By 
showing  forth  Christ's  death  it  proclaims  in  the 
most  solemn  manner  the  remission,  for  His 
sake,  of  the  sins  for  which  He  died,  and  en- 
courages us  to  plead  His  merits,  and  rest  upon 
them  in  seeking  that  remission  from  God.  The 
ceremony,  with  the  accompanying  words, 
brings  from  Christ  Himself  an  assurance  that 
His  Body  was  given  and  His  Blood  shed  for  us  ; 
and  it  is  our  part  thankfully  to  believe  and  to 
accept  that  assurance,  and  in  return  for  it  to 
offer  our  whole  souls  and  bodies  to  His  service. 
Such  is  the  first  gift,  according  to  the  re- 
formed theology,  bestowed  in  the  Holy  Com- 
munion ;  but  there  is  another,  which  is  the 
chief  subject  of  controversy  among  the  Churches 
of  the  Reformation — that  of  the  Saviour's 
Body  and  Blood.      In  what  sense  is  that  gift 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER  119 

given  ?  Here  again  we  may  put  aside  Zwingli, 
as  falling  much  below  the  level  of  the  views 
accepted  by  the  Reformed  Churches  generally, 
even  in  his  native  Switzerland.  The  real 
question  lies  between  the  teaching  of  Luther 
and  his  followers  on  the  one  side,  and  that  of 
Calvin  and  his  school  on  the  other.  The 
cardinal  point  to  which  Luther  held,  in  spite 
of  all  temptations  and  all  opposition,  was  that 
the  very  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  are  ex- 
hibited "  in,  with,  and  under,  "  the  forms  of 
bread  and  wine.  Of  the  manner  of  the  Pre- 
sence he  would  say  nothing,  except  that  Tran- 
substantiation  is  unnecessary  as  an  explanation, 
and  is  unscriptural.  He  is  concerned  only 
with  the  fact  that  the  sacred  Body  and  Blood 
are  verily  present,  verily  given,  verily  received, 
by  the  mouth.  He  can  only  say  it  is  not  a 
local  Presence,  but  a  Presence  beyond  human 
understanding,  which  he  can  only  call  "  Sacra- 
mental. "  That  latter  word,  however,  used  in 
this  connection,  is  but  an  evasion  of  the  diffi- 
culty. It  simply  says  that  the  Presence  in  the 
Sacrament  is  such  a  Presence  as  is  possible  in  a 
Sacrament,  and  it  does  not  take  us  one  step 
further. 


I20  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

The  formal  teaching  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
may,  perhaps,  best  be  learned  from  the  "  Form- 
ula Concordiae,  "  which  was  published  in  1580. 
That  formula  was  occasioned  by  the  fact  that 
grave  disputes  arose,  after  Luther's  death  in  1 546, 
between  the  divines  who  regarded  themselves 
as  the  special  custodians  of  his  teaching  and 
others  who  followed  Melancthon.  The  tendency 
of  Melancthon  had  for  some  time  been  to  soften 
down  the  vehement  statements  of  Luther  on 
this  mysterious  subject,  and  practically  to 
iassimilate  the  teaching  of  his  Church  more  and 
more  to  that  of  Calvin.  The  "  Formula  of 
Concord  "  expresses  the  understanding  arrived 
at  by  the  Lutheran  divines,  in  view  of  this  and 
other  controversies  respecting  the  main  points 
in  dispute.  It  thus  embodied  the  final  result 
of  these  controversies,  and  has  ever  since  been 
one  of  the  symbolical  books  of  the  Lutheran 
Church. 

The  following,  then  (quoting  with  occasional 
abridgment),  are  the  affirmative  principles 
which  it  lays  down.  "  We  believe  and  teach," 
it  says,  "  that  in  the  Supper  of  the  Lord  the 
Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  are  verily  and  sub- 
stantially present,  and  are  truly  distributed,  and 


THE  LORD^S  SUPPER  121 

taken  together  with  the  bread  and  wine.  We 
teach  that  the  words  of  Christ's  Testament  are 
to  be  no  otherwise  received  than  as  they  sound 
to  the  letter  ;  so  that  the  bread  does  not  signify 
the  absent  body  of  Christ,  nor  the  wine  the 
absent  blood  of  Christ,  but  that  by  virtue  of  a 
Sacramental  union  the  bread  and  wine  are  re- 
ally the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ.  As  to  the 
consecration,  we  teach  that  no  human  work, 
nor  any  pronouncement  by  the  minister  of  the 
Church,  is  the  cause  of  the  Presence  in  the 
Supper  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  ;  but 
that  this  is  solely  to  be  attributed  to  the  omni- 
potent power  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  At 
the  same  time,  we  are  unanimous  in  teaching 
that  the  recitation  of  the  words  of  institution 
should  be  maintained.  .  .  .  Further,  the  found- 
ations on  which  we  rest  in  respect  to  this 
Sacrament  are  as  follows  :  (i)  That  our  Lord 
is  true  God  and  Man  ;  (2)  that  the  right  hand 
of  God  at  which  He  sits  is  everywhere,  and 
that  in  respect  of  His  human  nature,  as  well 
as  His  Divine,  He  rules  and  governs  all  things; 

(3)  that  the  Word  of  God  is  not  deceitful  ; 

(4)  that  God  knows  various  modes  by  which 
He  is  able  to  be  present  anywhere,  and  is  not 


122  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

bound  to  that  particular  mode  of  presence 
which  the  philosophers  are  wont  to  call  local 
or  circumscribed.  We  believe,  accordingly, 
that  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  are  received 
with  the  bread  and  wine,  not  merely  spiritually 
and  by  faith,  but  actually  by  the  mouth  ;  not, 
however,  in  a  Capernaitic  manner,  but  in  a 
supernatural  and  heavenly  manner,  by  means  of 
a  sacramental  union  ;  and  that  not  only  those 
who  truly  believe  in  Christ,  but  even  the  un- 
worthy and  the  unbelieving,  receive  the  true 
Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  so,  however,  that 
they  receive  neither  consolation  nor  life  there- 
from, but  judgment  and  condemnation,  unless 
they  repent.  We  condemn  the  opinion  which 
maintains  that  the  Body  of  Christ  is  so  included 
in  heaven  that  it  can  by  no  means  be  present 
simultaneously  in  many,  or  in  all,  places  where 
the  Supper  of  the  Lord  is  celebrated.  We  deny 
that  the  external  elements  of  bread  and  wine  in 
the  Sacrament  are  to  be  adored.  Finally,  we 
reject  and  condemn  the  Capernaitical  mandu- 
cation  of  the  Body  of  Christ,  which  the  Sacra- 
mentaries  maliciously  allege  of  us,  as  though  we 
taught  that  the  Body  of  Christ  was  torn  by  the 
teeth,  and  digested,   like   other   food,   in   the 


THE  LORD^S  SUPPER  123 

human  body.  For  we  believe  and  assert,  ac- 
cording to  the  clear  words  of  the  Testament  of 
Christ,  a  true,  but  supernatural,  manducation 
of  the  Body  of  Christ,  as  there  is  a  true  but 
supernatural  drinking  of  the  Blood  of  Christ. 
But  this  is  a  truth  which  no  one  can  understand 
by  the  human  senses  or  by  reason  ;  wherefore 
in  this  matter,  as  in  other  articles  of  faith,  we 
submit  our  intellect  to  the  obedience  of  Christ. 
For  this  mystery  is  revealed  in  the  Word  of  God 
alone,  and  is  comprehended  solely  by  faith. " 

We  cannot  fail  to  be  reminded,  in  perusing 
these  statements,  of  the  suggestion  made  by  the 
late  Archbishop  Temple,  that  the  views  assert- 
ed by  a  certain  school  in  our  Church  at  the  pre- 
sent day  are  really  Lutheran  in  their  character. 
But  it  will  be  observed  that  this  statement  asserts 
neither  Transubstantiation  nor  Consubstantia- 
tion  ;  and  it  is  important  to  remember  that 
Consubstantiation  is  not  the  formal  doctrine  of 
the  Lutheran  Church.  For  instance,  one  of  the 
most  authoritative  manuals  of  that  Church,  for 
a  long  period  after  1 6 1  o,  when  it  was  published, 
was  Leonhard  Hutter's  "  Compendium  '' ;  and 
in  answer  to  the  question,  "  In  what  way  are 
the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  exhibited  and 


124  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

received  with  the  bread  and  wine  in  the  Sacra- 
ment ?  '*  Hutter  explicitly  states  :  "  Not  cer- 
tainly by  Transubstantiation  ....  nor  does  it 
come  to  pass  by  Consubstantiation,  or  the  local _ 
inclusion  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  in 
the  bread  and  wine,  nor  by  any  durable  con- 
junction, apart  from  the  actual  use  of  the 
Sacrament.  But  it  comes  to  pass  by  Sacra- 
mental union,  which,  by  virtue  of  the  promise 
of  Christ,  provides  that,  when  the  bread  is 
offered,  the  Body  of  Christ  is  simultaneously 
present  and  truly  exhibited  ;  and  when  the 
wine  is  offered,  there  is  simultaneously  truly 
present  and  exhibited  the  Blood  of  Christ.  " 

Now,  certain  important  points  will  be  ob- 
served in  this  doctrine  which  distinguish  it 
broadly  from  every  other  upon  this  subject.  In 
the  first  place,  as  contrasted  with  all  other 
doctrines  of  the  so-called  Real  Presence,  it  has 
this  important  characteristic  :  that,  as  Hutter 
states,  no  durable  union  is  conceived  to  exist 
between  the  bread  and  wine  and  the  sacred 
Body  and  Blood.  They  are  really  present,  but 
only  in  the  act  of  reception.  There  could, 
therefore,  under  this  doctrine,  be  no  question  of 
reservation  of  the  elements,  for  there  is  nothing 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER  125 

permanently  attached  to  the  elements  to  be 
reserved.  The  sacred  food  is  present  in  the  act 
of  giving  and  receiving,  and  in  that  alone.  In 
the  next  place,  although  no  attempt  is  made  to 
explain  the  nature  of  the  conjunction  at  that 
moment,  yet  it  is  deemed  to  be  dependent  on 
a  belief,  very  difficult  to  apprehend,  respecting 
some  sort  of  ubiquity,  or  ubiquitous  influence, 
of  the  Body  of  our  Lord,  derived  from  its 
intimate  conjunction  with  His  Divine  nature 
in  the  hypostatic  union.  Luther  v^as  solely 
concerned  to  assert  the  fact  that  the  bread  and 
wine,  according  to  the  literal  sense  of  Christ's 
words,  were  His  Body  and  Blood  ;  and  in  the 
defence  of  that  belief  he  was  led  to  dwell,  in  a 
manner  which  is  in  many  respects  instructive, 
on  the  intimate  relation  between  the  Divine 
and  the  human  natures  of  our  Lord.  There 
can  be  little  doubt,  however,  that  the  ubiqui- 
tarian  view  has  a  dangerous  tendency  in  a 
Eutychian  direction  ;  and  its  close  association 
with  the  doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence,  as 
taught  by  Luther,  exposed  that  doctrine  to 
further  attacks  from  the  Swiss  and  French  Re- 
formers. 

Calvin     accordingly     propounded     another 


126  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

theory,  which  is  far  more  profound  than  that 
of  Zwingli,  and  which  closely  approaches,  in 
practical  effect,  the  Lutheran  view,  without  in- 
volving its  ubiquitarian  difficulties.  He  started 
from  the  declarations  of  our  Lord  in  the  sixth 
chapter  of  St.  John's  Gospel,  which  he  recog- 
nised as  clearly  teaching  that  a  participation  of 
our  Lord's  Flesh  and  Blood  is  essential  to  eternal 
life  ;  and  he  felt  that  the  words  in  which  our 
Lord  instituted  the  Lord's  Supper  must  have 
been  meant  to  declare  that  it  was  a  special 
means  for  that  participation.  But  he  considered 
that  such  participation  might  be  effected  by 
spiritual  means,  and  that  the  virtue  of  the 
glorified  Saviour's  Body  and  Blood  might  be 
communicated  to  the  soul  by  the  action  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  in  conjunction  with  the  partici- 
pation of  the  sacred  elements.  "  The  Flesh 
of  Christ,  "  he  says  in  the  "  Institutes,  "  ^  "  is 
like  a  rich  and  inexhaustible  fountain,  which 
transfuses  into  us  the  life  which  is  supplied  by 
His  Divinity  to  itself.  "  "  I  confess,  "  he  says 
elsewhere,  "  that  our  souls  are  fed  by  the  sub- 
stance of  the  flesh  of  Christ.  "  He  denied  that 
faith  constituted  the  actual  eating  of  the  Flesh 
'iv.,  17,  3,  5,  8,  9. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER  127 

and  Blood  of  Christ,  and  considered  the  eating 
to  be  rather  the  effect  and  fruit  of  faith.  More 
particularly  he  says  :  ^  "  We  cannot  doubt  that, 
in  accordance  with  the  unalterable  nature  of 
the  human  body,  our  Lord's  finite  being  is 
contained  in  heaven,  where  it  was,  once  for  all, 
received  until  He  returns  to  judgment,  and 
consequently  it  seems  inadmissible  to  suppose 
that  He  Himself  is  contained  under  these  cor- 
ruptible elements,  or  that  He  can  be  regarded  as 
universally  present  in  His  human  nature.  Nor 
is  this  necessary  in  order  that  we  may  enjoy 
the  participation  of  Him,  for  our  Lord  bestows 
this  benefit  upon  us  by  His  spirit,  so  that  we 
become  one  with  Him  in  body,  soul,  and  spirit. 
The  link,  accordingly,  of  that  conjunction  is 
the  Spirit  of  Christ,  by  which  we  are  conjoined 
with  Him,  and  His  Spirit  is,  as  it  were,  the 
channel  by  which  is  derived  to  us  whatever 
Christ  is  or  has."  Calvin,  therefore,  taught  a 
real  participation  of  the  Flesh  and  Blood  of 
Christ  in  the  Holy  Communion,  by  means 
of  the  supernatural  operation  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  in  conjunction  with  the  participation  of 
the  Sacrament  ;  and  this  is  a  doctrine  which 

^  §   12,  p.  lOI. 


,5^ 


128  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

may  well  be  regarded  as  receiving  countenance 
from  the  prayer  in  the  ancient  Liturgies,  by 
which  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon 
the  Elements  was  invoked,  "  that  they  may 
become  unto  us  "  the  Body  and  Blood  of  our 
Lord. 

But,  however  this  may  be,  it  is  evident  that 
the  result  of  the  controversies  respecting  the 
Holy  Communion  during  the  sixteenth  century 
in  the  teaching  of  Calvin  and  of  Luther,  who 
were  together  predominant  throughout  the 
Reformed  Communions,  was  to  assert  in  the 
strongest  manner  the  fact  that  the  Holy  Com- 
munion is  a  special  means  ordained  by  our  Lord 
for  the  participation  of  His  Flesh  and  Blood, 
and  that  it  is  thus  a  perpetual  witness  to,  and  a 
means  for,  maintaining  that  intimate  union  with 
Him  and  His  Father,  which,  as  we  saw,  was 
the  cardinal  motive  and  object  of  the  Re- 
formation. The  effect,  with  respect  to  the 
Sacraments,  was  to  restore  to  them,  in  a  degree 
which  they  had  not  enjoyed  in  the  later 
practice  of  the  Church,  the  character  of  means 
of  communion  with  God.  Communion  had 
ceased  to  be,  in  the  Roman  Church,  the 
predominant   characteristic   of  the   Mass.      It 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER  129 

had  become  an  oiFering  from  man  to  God,  less 
than  a  means  by  which  God  imparted  Himself 
to  men.  The  theology  of  the  Reformation 
re-established  the  aspect  of  the  Sacraments  as  a 
means  of  union  and  participation  with  the 
person  and  nature  of  our  Lord,  and  thus 
supplied  a  practical  guarantee  of  the  reality  of 
that  union  and  communion. 


Ill, 


It  is  a  striking  fact  that  the  Protestant 
theology  of  the  sixteenth  century  both  began 
and  ended  in  strict  theories  of  fPredestination/, 
The  first  attempt  at  a  comprehensive  treatment 
of  theology  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
Reformation  was  Melanchthon's  "  Loci  Com- 
munes Rerum  Theologicarum,  "  which  was 
published  in  1521.  The  treatise  which  was 
the  predominant  exposition  of  the  Reformed 
theology  at  the  close  of  the  century  was  Calvin's 
"  Institutio  Christianas  Religionis. "  The  severe 
doctrine  of  Calvin  on  the  subject  of  predesti- 
nation is  notorious;  but  it  should  be  remembered 
that  the  teaching  of  Melanchthon  in  the  first 
edition  of  his  work  was  not  less  severe.      The 


9 


I30  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

history  of  that  work  is  in  great  measure  the 
history  of  theology  in  the  German  Protestant 
Churches  up  to  the  time  of  Melanchthon's 
death  in  1560.  It  passed  through  a  great 
number  of  editions,  and  remained  for  at  least 
half  a  century  the  great  text-book  of  theology 
for  the  Protestant  Churches  ;  but  it  underwent 
during  that  time  various  important  changes  at 
the  hands  of  its  author.  Originally,  in  1521, 
it  was  a  little  work  occupying  less  than  200 
modern  octavo  pages,  and  it  corresponded 
exactly  to  its  second  title,  "  Hypotyposes 
Theological,  "  or  Theological  Outlines.  Mel- 
anchthon  was  then  a  young  man,  only  twenty- 
four  years  old  ;  and  that  he  should  have 
produced  at  that  age  a  comprehensive  review  of 
the  revived  theology,  which  took  its  place  at 
once  as  its  most  satisfactory  statement,  affords 
a  wonderful  illustration,  alike  of  his  genius,  and 
of  the  profound  impression  made  upon  him  by 
Luther,  after  little  more  than  three  years  of 
that  Reformer's  public  activity.  But  the  book 
derives  a  special  interest  from  the  fact  that  its 
successive  stages  mark  the  gradual  development 
of  the  Reformed  theology  and  of  Melanchthon's 
teaching.      In  its  earliest  form — that  of  1521 


PREDESTINATION  1 3 1 

— the  Reformed  teaching  is  exhibited  in  its 
first  vivid,  and  in  some  respects  immature,  if 
not  crude,  elements  ;  and  it  was  enlarged  and 
modified  as  the  Reformed  theology  v^as  deve- 
loped and  extended  in  scope,  and  as  Melanch- 
thon's  own  thoughts  grew  more  mature  and 
well  balanced.  In  its  final  form  it  is  one  of 
the  most  instructive,  comprehensive,  and  mod- 
erate treatises  to  be  found  in  the  literature  of 
the  Protestant  Churches,  and  is  comparable 
only  to  Calvin's  "  Institutes.  "  But  it  is  in 
many  respects  more  interesting  in  its  first  form, 
in  which  the  thoughts  out  of  which  the  great 
movement  of  the  Reformation  sprang  may  be 
seen  forming,  as  it  were,  in  the  minds  of  its 
authors.  Now,  as  has  been  said,  it  is  remark- 
able that  this  treatise  commences  with  as  strong 
a  statement  of  the  dependence  of  all  things  on 
Divine  predestination  as  is  found  in  the  great 
treatise  of  Calvin.  It  lays  down,  at  the  very 
outset,  that  "  since  all  things  which  happen 
necessarily  happen  according  to  Divine  pre- 
destination,  there  is  no  liberty  of  our  will.  "  ^ 

^  Die  Loci  Communes  Philipp  Melanthons  in  ihrer  Urge- 
stalt  herausgegeben  und  erlautert  von  G.  L.  Plitt.  Erlangen, 
1864  :  p.  109. 


132  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

Melanchthon  was  not  a  man  of  a  stern  dog- 
matic nature  like  Calvin,  nor  a  man  who 
approached  questions  with  the  intense  vehe- 
mence of  Luther.  What,  we  must  ask,  is  the 
reason  why  he  should  thus  anticipate,  at  the 
commencement  of  the  century,  the  character- 
istic teaching  with  which  it  ended  ? 

The  answer  is  apparent  from  this  very 
treatise,  and  it  casts  a  light  upon  the  general 
bearing  of  the  doctrines  of  predestination,  which 
gives  them  at  once  a  more  intelligible  and  a 
more  human  character,  than  when  we  approach 
them  simply  from  the  side  of  theological 
philosophy.  Melanchthon  explains  that  the 
great  purpose  of  his  book  is  to  give  assistance 
in  apprehending  the  practical,  as  distinct  from 
the  speculative,  doctrines  of  Christianity.  He 
enumerates  the  chief  heads  of  theology  as 
follows  :  God  ;  Unity  and  Trinity  ;  Creation  ; 
Man  and  Man's  Powers  ;  Sin  ;  the  Fruits  of 
Sin,  and  Vices  ;  Punishments  ;  the  Law  ;  Pro- 
mises ;  Regeneration  by  Christ  ;  Grace  ;  the 
Fruits  of  Grace  ;  Faith  ;  Hope  ;  Charity  ; 
Predestination  ;  Sacramental  Signs  ;  the  Con- 
dition of  Man  ;  Magistrates  ;  Bishops  ;  Con- 
demnation ;  Bliss.      It  may  be  noticed  that  in 


PREDESTINATION  133 

this  enumeration  predestination  is  one  of  the 
latter  topics  mentioned  ;  but  the  main  prin- 
ciples respecting  it  are  laid  down  from  the 
outset,  and  form  the  starting-point.  Mel- 
anchthon  goes  on  to  say  that  there  is  no  oc- 
casion for  him  to  spend  much  labour  upon  those 
supreme  questions  respecting  God,  His  Unity 
and  Trinity,  the  mystery  of  Creation,  and  the 
mode  of  the  Incarnation.  The  scholastic 
theologians,  he  says,  have  been  discussing 
them  for  centuries,  and  he  does  not  know 
what  practical  benefit  has  been  gained.  "  Have 
they  not,  "  he  asks,  "  as  St.  Paul  says,  '  become 
vain  in  their  imaginations,  '  while  they  have 
been  trifling  all  their  lives  about  universals, 
formalities,  connotations,  and  I  know  not  what 
other  inane  words  and  expressions  ?  "  But,  he 
says,  "  as  to  the  other  loci^  respecting  the 
power  of  sin,  the  law  and  grace,  I  do  not 
know  how  a  man  can  expect  to  be  called  a 
Christian  who  is  ignorant  of  them.  For  it  is 
from  these  that  Christ  is  properly  known,  if  at 
least  the  true  knowledge  of  Christ  is  to  know 
His  benefits,  and  not,  as  the  Schoolmen  teach, 
to  know  His  natures  and  the  modes  of  His 
Incarnation.      Unless  you  know  for  what  pur- 


134  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

pose  He  assumed  our  flesh  and  was  nailed  to 
the  cross,  what  benefit  will  it  be  to  know  of  His 
history  ?  ....  St.  Paul,  in  his  Epistle  to  the 
Romans  " — on  which  Melanchthon  had  been 
giving  lectures,  which  were  the  germ  of  this 
treatise — "  when  he  wrote  a  compendium  of 
Christian  doctrine,  did  not  philosophise  about 
the  mysteries  of  the  Trinity,  about  the  mode 
of  the  Incarnation,  about  active  and  passive 
creation.  What  is  it  that  he  treats  of  ? 
Certainly  of  the  law,  of  sin,  of  grace,  which  are 
the  topics  on  which  alone  a  knowledge  of 
Christ  depends.  " 

This  was  the  first  impulse  of  the  Reformed 
teaching — to  make  theology  human,  to  bring  it 
home  to  men's  business  and  bosoms,  and  to 
explain  its  bearing  on  their  lives  and  their 
practical  necessities.  Accordingly,  with  this 
brief  introduction,  Melanchthon  goes  on  at 
once,  and  before  everything  else,  to  the  question 
of  human  powers,  and  consequently  of  free 
will  :  "  De  hominis  viribus,  adeoque  de  libero 
arbitrio.  "  That  was  the  first  practical  question 
which  had  to  be  considered  by  a  teacher  who 
wanted  to  bring  home  to  men  the  nature  of 
the  Gospel  and  the  benefits  which  it   offered. 


PREDESTINATION  1 3  5 

It  is  remarkable  that  this  is  precisely  the  order 
in  which,  some  ten  years  later,  Melanchthon 
explained  the  teaching  of  the  Reformed  Church 
in  the  formal  statement  he  drew  up  for  pre- 
sentation to  the  Emperor  Charles  V,  and 
which,  under  the  name  of  the  Augsburg  Con- 
fession, became  the  cardinal  Protestant  symbol. 
In  that  Confession  the  first  article  is  T)e  T)eo^ 
declaring  the  acceptance  by  the  Reformers  of 
the  Nicene  faith  ;  and  the  very  next — the 
second — is  "De  ^eccato  Originis^  which  says  that 
all  men  who,  after  the  fall  of  Adam,  are  natur- 
ally engendered,  are  born  "  with  sin — that  is, 
without  fear  of  God,  without  trust  towards 
God,  and  with  concupiscence  "  ;  and  it  denies 
that  men  can  be  justified  before  God  by  the 
natural  powers  of  reason.  That  Confession, 
however,  is  content  to  state  this  as  a  fact, 
without  considering  its  cause.  The  character- 
istic of  the  teaching  of  the  "Loci  Communes" 
is  that  it  traces  the  cause  of  this  fact  to  the 
Divine  predestination,  and  rests  it  upon  that 
foundation.  "  Liberty,  "  says  Melanchthon, 
"  is  the  power  to  act  or  not  to  act,  the  power 
to  act  in  one  way  or  another  ;  and  the  question 
is  :  Has  the  will  this  liberty,  and  how  far  ?  " 


136  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

The  answer  is  that  "  Since  all  things  which 
happen,  necessarily  happen  according  to  Divine 
predestination,  there  can  be  no  liberty  of  our 
will,  "  and  the  discussion  is  concluded  with  the 
following  four  statements : 

"  If  you  regard  the  human  will  in  reference 
to  predestination,  there  is  no  liberty  either  in 
external  or  internal  works ;  but  all  things 
happen  according  to  Divine  determination. 

"  If  you  consider  the  will  in  reference  to 
external  acts,  there  appears,  in  the  judgment  of 
nature,  to  be  a  certain  liberty. 

"  If  you  consider  the  will  in  reference  to  the 
affections  and  passions,  there  is  clearly  no 
liberty,  even  in  the  judgment  of  nature  ; 

"  And  when  the  affections  and  passions  have 
begun  to  rage  and  burn  within  us,  they  cannot 
be  restrained  from  breaking  forth.  " 

Now,  as  has  been  said,  as  Melanchthon  grew 
more  mature  and  moderate,  he  became  content 
to  assert  the  fact  of  the  corruption  of  the 
human  will,  without  ascribing  that  corruption 
thus  absolutely  to  Divine  decrees.  But  what 
it  is  important  to  observe  is  that  the  purpose 
with  which  the  idea  of  predestination  is  intro- 
duced   is   to    afford   some   explanation    of  the 


PREDESTINATION  137 

helplessness  of  man's  will,  and  of  the  hopeless- 
ness of  his  condition  by  nature.  It  is  intro- 
duced, that  is,  for  a  practical  purpose,  and  arises 
out  of  the  contemplation  of  our  moral  and 
religious  weakness.  Melanchthon  and  those 
who  felt  with  him  found  themselves,  accord- 
ing to  their  bitter  experience,  in  a  condition 
of  spiritual  feebleness  and  moral  corruption. 
That  unhappy  state  seemed  to  them  a  part  of 
the  present  constitution  of  things,  and  they 
could  only  attribute  it  to  Divine  ordination. 
The  argument  is  the  same  in  Luther's  char- 
acteristic treatise,  "  De  Servo  Arbitrio,  "  which 
he  wrote  three  years  after  the  first  publication 
of  Melanchthon's  "  Loci,  "  in  answer  to  the 
treatise  of  Erasmus,  "  De  libero  Arbitrio.  " 
He,  similarly,  in  asserting  the  servitude  of  the 
will,  lays  down  the  principle  that  all  things 
which  happen,  even  if  they  seem  to  us  to 
happen  under  conditions  of  mutability  and 
contingency,  nevertheless  really  come  to  pass 
necessarily  and  immutably,  if  we  look  to  the 
will  of  God.  He  says  that  God  works  all 
things  in  all  things  and  is  alone  free,  and  from 
hence  it  follows  irresistibly  that  there  is  no 
freedom  in  the   human  will.      "Hoc  fulmine 


138  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

sternitur  et  conteritur  penitus  Liberum  Ar- 
bitrium.  "  The  will  of  man  is  ever  deter- 
mined and  led  by  some  other.  Luther  even 
compares  it  to  a  beast  of  burden,  which  is 
ridden  either  by  God  or  by  the  devil.  Now, 
we  may  again  observe  in  this  treatise  that  the 
motive,  from  which  this  extreme  theory  starts, 
is  that  of  illustrating  and  confirming  the  fact 
of  the  free  grace  of  God,  and  the  complete  in- 
capacity of  the  human  will  to  work  or  do 
anything  of  its  own  initiative,  in  matters  which 
pertain  to  salvation.  Luther  himself  describes 
this  as  the  purpose  of  his  treatise.  He,  too, 
with  further  reflection  and  experience,  ceased 
to  assert  predestination  in  this  extreme  form, 
and  the  Lutheran  Church,  in  the  "  Formula 
Concordias,  "  finally  determined  the  matter  in 
a  sense  which  is  closely  parallel  to  our  own 
Article  on  the  subject.  But  what  it  remains 
important  and  instructive  for  us  to  observe  is, 
that  the  ideas  of  predestination  took  their  rise 
in  the  sense  of  human  feebleness  and  incapacity 
for  good. 

It  will  be  found  that  it  has  been  so  throughout 
Church  history.  It  is  St.  Augustine  who  was 
the  first  great  representative  of  predestinarian 


PREDESTINATION  139 

teaching,  and  how  did  he  arrive  at  it  ?  His 
teaching  arose  out  of  his  controversy  v^ith 
Pelagius  on  free  v^ill.  The  error  of  Pelagius 
arose  from  his  very  goodness  in  a  moral  sense. 
He  did  not  realize  the  weakness  of  human 
nature,  and  thought  that  it  had  natural  powers 
still  left  to  it  which  were  capable  of  doing 
good.  As  Luthardt  has  remarked,  it  was  by 
no  moral  levity  that  the  course  of  Pelagius's 
thought  was  prompted,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
by  a  certain  moral  earnestness.  He  was  aiming 
at  a  moral  reform  of  life,  and  was  vindicating 
the  monkish  efforts  at  self-discipline,  charity, 
poverty,  and  the  like,  and  he  thought  Augustine 
was  cutting  the  sinews  of  such  moral  endeav- 
ours. But  Augustine,  in  a  terrible  experience, 
had  realized  the  utter  weakness  of  human 
nature,  and  felt  that  it  was  solely  by  the  grace 
of  God,  and  not  by  any  moral  effects  of  his 
own,  that  he  had  been  delivered.  But  if,  as 
he  felt,  his  salvation  had  been  entirely  God's 
work,  he  could  not  but  go  on  to  ask  why  it 
was  that  he  had  been  saved  from  his  own  evil, 
and  not  others  ;  why  should  grace  be  effectual 
in  some  cases  and  not  in  all .?  There  seemed 
no    answer    to    this    question    except    in    the 


I40  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

absolute  power  and  will  of  God,  which  works 
irresistibly  in  some  cases  and  not  in  others. 
Melanchthon  and  Luther  were  but  following 
precisely  the  reasoning  and  the  experience  of 
Augustine,  in  passing  from  a  sense  of  human 
helplessness,  and  of  the  absolute  dependence  of 
the  Christian  on  the  grace  of  God,  to  the  con- 
clusion that  God's  will  is  supreme,  and  that  all 
things  are  predestinated  by  Him. 

There  is  a  striking  passage  in  Coleridge's 
"  Aids  to  Reflection,  "  a  work  particularly 
instructive  on  this  and  the  cognate  subjects,  in 
which  this  train  of  thought  is  illustrated  with 
great  force  and  beauty.  It  is  in  his  comment 
on  his  Second  Aphorism  on  Spiritual  Religion. 
He  begins  by  observing  that  "  no  impartial 
person,  competently  acquainted  with  the  history 
of  the  Reformation,  and  the  works  of  the 
earlier  Protestant  divines,  at  home  and  abroad, 
even  to  the  close  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  will  deny 
that  the  doctrines  of  Calvin  on  redemption  and 
the  natural  state  of  fallen  man  are  in  all  essential 
points  the  same  as  those  of  Luther,  Zwinglius, 
and  the  first  Reformers  collectively.  "  Then, 
after  some  discussion  of  the  philosophical  prob- 
lems involved,  he  goes  on  to  consider  the  case 


PREDESTINATION  1 4 1 

of  a  man  who  has  reason  to  believe,  from  his 
spiritual  experience,  that  he  has  received  the 
grace  of  God,  and  is  "  on  the  right  road  to  the 
life  promised  under  these  conditions."  "Now," 
he  says,  "  I  dare  assert  that  no  such  man,  how- 
ever fervent  his  charity  and  however  deep  his 
humility  may  be,  can  peruse  the  records  of 
history  with  a  reflecting  spirit,  or  look  round 
the  world  with  an  observant  eye,  and  not  find 
himself  compelled  to  admit  that  all  men  are 
not  on  the  right  road.  He  cannot  help  judging 
that  even  in  Christian  countries  many — a  fear- 
ful many — have  not  their  faces  turned  towards 
it.  This,  then,  is  a  mere  matter  of  fact.  Now 
comes  the  question.  Shall  the  believer,  who 
thus  hopes  on  the  appointed  grounds  of  hope, 
attribute  this  distinction  exclusively  to  his  own 
resolves  and  strivings — or,  if  not  exclusively, 
yet  primarily  and  principally  1  Shall  he  refer 
the  first  movements  and  preparations  to  his 
own  will  and  understanding,  and  bottom  his 
claim  to  the  promises  on  his  own  comparative 
excellence  ?  If  not,  if  no  man  dare  take  this 
honour  to  himself,  to  whom  shall  he  assign  it, 
if  not  to  that  Being  in  whom  the  promise 
originated, and  on  whom  its  fulfilment  depends.? 


142  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

If  he  stop  here,  who  shall  blame  him  ?  By 
what  argument  shall  his  reasoning  be  invalida- 
ted, which  might  not  be  urged  with  equal  force 
against  any  essential  difference  between  obedient 
and  disobedient.  Christian  and  worldling — that 
would  not  imply  that  both  sorts  alike  are,  in 
the  sight  of  God,  the  sons  of  God  by  adoption?" 

In  these  observations  of  Coleridge  it  will  be 
found,  perhaps,  that  we  have  the  secret  of  the 
earnest  discussions  with  which  the  sixteenth 
century  is  occupied  respecting  the  relations 
between  free  will  and  grace,  liberty  and  pre- 
destination— the  so-called  Synergistic  contro- 
versies, or  those  which  concern  the  question 
of  the  mutual  relations  and  actions  of  the 
human  will  and  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  con- 
version and  salvation  of  men.  They  are  con- 
troversies which  arose  out  of  the  moral  and 
religious  experience  of  the  men  of  that  day, 
and  they  are  the  expression,  less  of  their 
thoughts,  than  of  their  spiritual  struggles. 

This  is  indeed  a  characteristic  of  all  contro- 
versies respecting  subjects  of  this  class — those 
which  relate  to  the  moral  nature  of  man — 
which  it  is  essential  to  bear  in  mind,  if  they 
are  to  be  at  all  adequately  apprehended.      Res- 


PREDESTINATION  143 

pecting  such  controversies,  it  may  well  be 
doubted  whether  they  ever  will  be,  or,  rather, 
whether  they  ever  can  be,  settled.  They  are 
not  controversies  respecting  abstract  or  eternal 
truths,  like  those  respecting  mathematics,  on 
the  one  hand,  or  those  respecting  the  attributes 
of  God,  on  the  other.  They  are  controversies 
respecting  matters  of  human  experience,  and 
the  premises  from  which  men  argue  vary  with 
that  experience.  Pelagius  sees  one  side  of  that 
experience  ;  St.  Augustine  sees  another  ;  and 
neither  can  quite  appreciate  the  facts  which 
his  antagonist  has  in  view.  So,  in  the  century 
we  are  considering,  Erasmus  is  arguing  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  experience  of  a  suc- 
cessful and  somewhat  cold-blooded  scholar, 
who  is  looking  at  the  human  will  from  an 
abstract  and  philosophical  point  of  observation. 
Luther  was  arguing  from  the  point  of  view 
of  a  man  immersed,  from  his  youth  up,  in  intense 
moral  and  spiritual  struggles,  sensible  of  the 
tremendous  temptations  against  which  he  has 
to  contend,  and  feeling  that,  if  God  be  not  for 
him,  if  he  be  not  chosen  by  God  and  upheld 
by  God,  he  has  no  hope  of  victory  and  deli- 
verance. 


144  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

It  may  be  a  question  in  this  controversy  on 
which  side  is  the  best  philosophy  ;  but  there 
can  be  little  question  on  which  side  is  the  best 
experience.  As  Coleridge  puts  the  case  in  his 
comments,  in  the  "  Aids  to  Reflection  ",  on  a 
passage  from  Bishop  Jeremy  Taylor  on  Origi- 
nal Sin  :  "  What  less  than  disease  can  we  call 
a  necessity  of  error  and  a  predisposition  to  sin 
and  sickness  ?  Taylor,  indeed,  asserts  that 
though  perfect  obedience  became  incompar- 
ably more  difficult"  (after  Adam's  fall),  "it 
was  not,  however,  absolutely  impossible.  Yet 
he  himself  admits  that  the  contrary  was  univer- 
sal— that,  of  the  countless  millions  of  Adam's 
posterity,  not  a  single  individual  ever  realized 
or  approached  to  the  realization  of  this  possibi- 
lity ;  and  (if  my  memory  does  not  deceive  me) 
Taylor  himself  has  elsewhere  exposed — and,  if 
he  has  not,  yet  commonsense  v/ill  do  it  for  him 
— the  sophistry  in  asserting  of  a  whole  what 
may  be  true  of  the  whole,  but  is  in  fact  true 
only  of  each  of  its  component  parts.  Anyone 
may  snap  a  horsehair  ;  therefore  anyone  may 
perform  the  same  feat  with  the  horse's  tail. 
On  a  level  floor  (on  the  hardened  sand,  for 
instance,  of  a  sea-beach)    I  chalk  two  parallel 


PREDESTINATION  145 

straight  lines,  with  a  width  of  eight  inches. 
It  is  possible  for  a  man,  with  a  bandage  over 
his  eyes,  to  keep  within  the  path  for  two  or 
three  paces  ;  therefore  it  is  possible  for  him  to 
walk  blindfold  for  two  or  three  leagues  without 
a  single  deviation  !  And  this  possibility  would 
sufiSce  to  acquit  me  of  injustice,  though  I  had 
placed  man-traps  within  an  inch  of  one  line, 
and  knew  that  there  were  pitfalls  and  deep  wells 
beside  the  other  !  " 

In  short,  in  proportion  to  the  depth  of  men's 
moral  and  spiritual  struggle,  in  proportion  to 
the  intensity  with  which  they  apprehend  the 
height  of  the  Divine  righteousness  and  the 
Divine  ideal,  must  there  arise  in  them  a  sense 
of  the  utter  feebleness  of  their  own  powers,  of 
the  weakness  and  servitude  of  their  wills,  and 
of  their  absolute  dependence  on  Divine  grace 
and  the  Divine  will.  They  are  driven  to  that 
sense  of  utter  incapacity,  and  of  entire  depen- 
dence upon  God,  which  St.  Paul  expresses  so 
forcibly  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  But, 
unfortunately,  they  are  almost  always  impelled, 
as  Melanchthon,  Luther,  and  Calvin  were,  to 
step  byond  that  practical  statement  of  their 
experience,   and   to  speculate   on  the   ultimate 


10 


146  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

philosophical,  or  metaphysical,  causes  of  their 
condition  ;  and  then  their  moral  conclusions 
become  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  a  specula- 
tive and  uncertain  philosophy.  As  Coleridge, 
again,  says,  after  the  first  of  the  two  passages 
just  quoted  : 

"  If  the  self-examinant  will  abandon  this 
position,  and  exchange  the  safe  circle  of  religion 
and  practical  reason  for  the  shifting  sand-wastes 
and  fnirages  of  speculative  theology  ;  if,  instead 
of  seeking  after  the  marks  of  Election  in  him- 
self, he  undertakes  to  determine  the  ground 
and  origin,  the  possibility  and  mode  of  Election 
itself  in  relation  to  God — in  this  case,  and 
whether  he  does  it  for  the  satisfaction  of  cur- 
iosity, or  from  the  ambition  of  answering  those 
who  would  call  God  Himself  to  account,  why 
and  by  what  right  certain  souls  were  born  in 
Africa  instead  of  England,  "  and  similar  pro- 
blems, "  in  this  case,  I  say,  we  can  only  regret 
that  the  inquirer  had  not  been  better  instructed 
in  the  nature,  the  bounds,  the  true  purposes  and 
proper  objects  of  his  intellectual  faculties,  and 
that  he  had  not  previously  asked  himself,  by 
what  appropriate  sense,  or  organ  of  knowledge, 
he  hoped  to  secure   an   insight  into    a  nature 


PREDESTINATION  147 

which  was  neither  an  object  of  his  senses,  nor 
a  part  of  his  self-consciousness  ;  and  so  leave 
himself  to  ward  off  shadowy  spears  with  the 
shadow  of  a  shield,  and  to  retaliate  the  non- 
sense of  blasphemy  with  the  abracadabra  of 
presumption.  He  that  will  fly  without  wings 
must  fly  in  his  dreams  :  and  till  he  awakes  will 
not  find  out  that  to  fly  in  a  dream  is  but  to 
dream  of  flying.  " 

These  observations  of  Coleridge  are  an 
admirable  commentary  alike  on  the  strength 
and  on  the  weakness  of  the  predestinarian 
theories  of  the  Reformers.  Only  let  us  remem- 
ber that,  when  men  are  in  the  thick  of  a  mor- 
tal struggle  for  great  spiritual  and  moral  truths, 
they  naturally  lay  hands  on  any  weapon  that 
is  within  their  grasp  ;  and  that  they  are  almost 
forced  to  become  philosophers  and  speculative 
theologians,  against  their  will,  if  they  are  to 
maintain  'what  they  feel  to  be  the  most  vital 
moral  truths,  against  the  assaults  that  are  made 
on  them  from  all  sides. 

There  is,  however,  a  special  aspect  of  Cal- 
vin's doctrine  of  predestination  which  deserves 
distinct  recognition,  and  which  distinguishes 
it,  in   great    measure,    from   those   of  Luther 


148  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

and  Melanchthon.  There  does  not  seem  evi- 
dence that  Calvin  was  drav^n  into  his  theory 
by  such  intense  moral  experience  as  we  have 
traced  in  Augustine,  Luther,  and  others,  and 
there  seems  to  be  another  impulse  operating 
in  him.  He  is  a  man  with  a  profound  sense 
of  the  necessity  of  law  and  government.  His 
conversion,  he  says,  was  sudden  ;  and  as  soon 
as  he  is  converted  and  convinced  of  the  truth 
of  the  Reformed  theology,  his  dominant  idea  is 
that  of  obedience  to  the  will  of  God.  It  has 
been  said  of  him  that  obedience  was  the  watch- 
word of  his  life.  He  is  the  Protestant  Loyola ; 
and  as  Loyola  taught  that  every  Jesuit  should 
be  as  a  staff  in  the  hand  of  his  superior,  so  Cal- 
vin's idea  was  that  every  Christian  should  be 
at  the  absolute  command  of  God — as,  in  fact, 
every  man  really  is,  whether  consciously  or  not. 
God  is  regarded  by  him,  not  so  much  in  the 
character  of  a  Father,  which  is  Luther's  fa- 
vourite conception,  but  as  a  Lord  and  Judge. 
He  is  the  Lord  of  lords,  who,  according  to 
His  unrestricted  will,  disposes  of  the  destinies 
of  men.  Accordingly,  in  his  view  of  the  rela- 
tion of  God  to  the  world,  the  emphasis  is  laid 
upon  the  power  of  God,   and   the   relation   of 


CALVINISM  149 

men  to  Him  is  pre-eminently  that  of  obedience. 
Calvin's  work  at  Geneva  was  to  realize  this 
aspect  of  Christianity  and  of  the  Church. 
Luther  leaves  the  utmost  possible  amount  of 
freedom  to  the  renewed  and  sanctified  will. 
"  Christian  Liberty  " — the  title  of  Luther's 
most  beautiful  and  least  controversial  work — 
is  also  the  watchword  of  his  practical  concep- 
tion of  the  Church.  He  would  have  as  much 
liberty  as  possible,  within  the  bounds  of  Chris- 
tian life  and  love.  But  Calvin's  conception 
was  that  of  a  strictly  regulated  life.  "  Under 
his  influence  Geneva  is  transformed  into  a 
theocracy.  The  Church  lays  down  the  rules 
and  regulations  for  faith  and  life,  and  the  State 
enforces  them.  .  .  .  Amusements  are  forbidden  ; 
the  very  discipline  of  the  family  is  brought 
under  control  ;  attendance  at  church  and  Com- 
munion at  stated  times  are  made  obligatory.  "  ^ 
No  doubt  Calvin  rendered  a  great  service  to 
the  Protestant  cause  at  a  critical  juncture  by 
thus  insisting,  even  with  this  exaggeration, 
upon  the  necessity  of  discipline  and  order  in 
the   Christian    life.       But   by    that    inevitable 

^   Cf.  Thomasius'    Dogmengeschichte^  ed.   Seeberg,  vol.  ii., 
p.  639  ;  edit.  I 


I50  PTOTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

tendency  by  which  men  transfer,  in  some 
degree,  their  own  image  and  similitude  to  their 
conception  of  God,  so  Calvin  conceives  of  the 
world  as  regulated  by  definite  and  immutable 
Divine  decrees.  All  is  determined  by  God 
beforehand,  all  is  regulated  by  precise  decisions  ; 
and  the  place  and  fate  of  every  individual  has 
been  assigned  to  him.  Carried  to  this  specu- 
lative length,  it  was  an  exaggeration  which 
provoked  a  dangerous  reaction  ;  yet  we  have 
only  to  look  to  our  sister  Church  in  Scotland 
in  order  to  see  that  such  a  view  exhibits  a  real 
side  of  human  experience,  and  has  worked  out 
magnificent  results.  Human  nature  disregards, 
in  practice,  the  extreme  points  in  such  theories 
and  systems,  and  assimilates  their  excellences. 
It  may  be,  as  Calvin  himself  confessed,  a  hor- 
ribile  decretum  that  some  men  are  everlastingly 
predestinated  to  damnation,  as  others  are  to 
salvation.  In  some  cases  such  a  doctrine  leads 
men  to  the  desperation  of  which  our  Article 
speaks  ;  but  the  great  mass  of  men  instinctively 
disregard  the  supposition  that  they  themselves 
may  be  among  the  condemned.  They  hope 
for  the  best  for  themselves  ;  and  then  there 
remain  for  them  only  the  grand  and  fortifying 


CALVINISM  151 

elements  of  the  system.  There  remains  for 
them  the  spectacle  of  a  firm,  holy,  unbending 
law,  to  which  they  must  conform  if  they  are 
to  be  in  harmony  with  the  truth  and  reality  of 
things.  There  remain  for  them  those  concep- 
tions of  the  eternities,  the  infinities,  the  immu- 
tabilities of  life,  which  Carlyle,  for  instance, 
brought  out  of  his  Scottish  training  and  habits, 
though  he  discarded  their  Christian  form. 
Calvin  was  to  the  men  of  his  day  something 
of  what  Carlyle  was,  though  in  so  diff^erent  a 
shape,  to  the  last  generation  of  Englishmen. 
He  deepened  immeasurably  their  sense  of  the 
eternal  and  unalterable  realities  of  life,  and 
impressed  upon  them  the  absolute  necessity  of 
conformity  with  the  will  of  God.  Had  not 
such  a  proclamation  of  universal  predestination 
and  immutable  law  been  combined  with  the 
more  gracious  message  of  the  Gospel,  it  would 
have  been  intolerable  to  the  feebleness  of 
human  nature.  But,  with  whatever  inconsis- 
tencies, it  was  in  fact  combined  with  that 
message  ;  and  men  and  women  learned,  at  one 
and  the  same  time,  their  insignificance  amidst 
tha  vast  and  eternal  system  of  decrees  and  laws 
with  which    they   were   surrounded,    and   the 


152  PROTESTANT  THEOLOGY 

grace  of  God,  by  which  they  were  saved  from 
the  effects  of  such  crushing  and  awful  powers. 
It  is  hoped  that  even  these  sHght  sketches 
of  the  vast  and  profound  subjects,  with  which 
the  theology  of  the  sixteenth  century  was 
occupied,  may  have  served  to  illustrate  the 
intense  human  interest  by  which  that  theology 
was  prompted  and  animated.  Whatever  the 
cause  may  be,  something  in  that  century  stirred 
human  nature  to  its  very  depths,  threw  up 
to  the  surface  all  its  struggling  forces,  and 
challenged  the  theologians  of  the  day  to  inter- 
pret them  and  to  bring  them  into  order.  To 
some  thoughtful  readers^  Shakespeare,  at  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  has  seemed  an 
isolated  phenomenon,  concerned  only  with  the 
passions  and  affections  of  human  nature,  and 
standing  calmly  aloof  from  the  controversies 
of  his  day.  But  it  may  be,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  he  is  but  the  final  illustration  of  the 
whole  character  of  the  century — a  century  in 
which  human  nature,  too  long  confined  in  the 
swathing-bands  of  medieval  discipline  and 
philosophy,  cast  them  aside,  burst  into  the 
realities  of  the  great  world  of  man  and  nature, 

-^  Brewer's  **  English  Studies,"  p.  271. 


THE  HUMAN  INTEREST  153 

asked  itself  what  they  meant,  what  nature 
meant,  what  God  meant,  what  Christ  was,  not 
to  theologians,  but  to  common  men  and  women; 
not  to  theological  virtues  and  vices,  but  to 
common  struggles,  common  passions,  common 
experiences.  The  theologies  of  the  sixteenth 
century  are  the  record  of  this  experience 
and  of  its  interpretation.  They  are  marked 
by  errors  and  exaggerations,  like  the  human 
beings  who  threw  them  up  to  the  surface  of  their 
hearts  and  minds  in  that  battle  of  giants.  But 
considered  from  the  point  of  view  here  sug- 
gested, they  cast  an  intense  light  upon  the 
needs  of  the  human  heart  and  upon  the  Divine 
answer  to  them;  and  it  may  be  added,  in  con- 
clusion, that  their  best  results,  and  the  truest 
record  of  the  experience  they  have  won  for  us, 
are  embodied  in  our  own  Thirty-nine  Articles, 
which  are,  as  it  were,  the  aphorisms  of  the 
Novum  Organum  of  a  new  religious  world. 


THE  PRIMARY  PRINCIPLES 
OF  LUTHER'S  LIFE  AND  TEACHING 

AS    EXHIBITED    IN    HIS 
"  THREE    GREAT    REFORMATION    TREATISES  "    ^ 


Much  has  been  written  about  Luther,  and 
the  general  history  of  his  life  and  work  has  been 
sketched  by  able  pens.  But  in  the  works  here 
translated,  he  speaks  for  himself  to  English- 
men by  his  greatest  and  most  characteristic 
writings.  The  three  works  which,  together 
with  the  Ninety-five  Theses,  are  included  in 
the  volume  here  reviewed,  are  well  known  in 
Germany  as  the  Drei  Grosse  'Reformations-Schrif- 
ten^  or  "  The  Three  Great  Reformation  Trea- 
tises "  of  Luther  ;  but  they  seem  never  yet  to 
have  been  brought  in  this  character  before  the 
English  public.  The  Treatise  on  Christian 
Liberty  has  indeed  been  previously  translated, 

^  Luther's  Primary  Works,  edited  by  Henry  Wace  D.  D., 
and  C.  A.  Buchheim  Ph.  D.,  Hodder  and  Stoughton,  1896. 


LUTHER'S  PRIMARY  WORKS       155 

though  not  of  late  years.  But  from  an  examina- 
tion of  the   catalogue  in  the  British  Museum, 
it  would  appear  that  no  complete  English  trans- 
lation is  accessible,  even  if  any  has  yet  been 
published,  of  the  Address  to  the  German  Nobi- 
lity   or    of  the    Treatise    on    the    Babylonish 
Captivity  of  the  Church.      Yet,  as  is  well  under- 
stood in  Germany,  it  is  in  these  that  the  whole 
genius  of  the   Reformer   appears  in   its  most 
complete  and  energetic  form.      They  are  bound 
together  in  the  closest  dramatic  unity.      They 
were  all  three  produced  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
critical  year  i  520,  when  nearly  three  years'  con- 
troversy, since  the  publication  of  the  Theses,  on 
Oct.  31st,  I  5 17,  had  convinced  Luther  of  the 
falseness  of  the  Court  of  Rome  and  the  hoUow- 
ness  of  its  claims  ;  and  they  were  immediately 
followed   by   the  bull  of  excommunication  in 
the  winter  of  the  same  year  and  the  summons 
to  the  Diet  of  Worms  in  1521.      Luther  felt, 
as  he  says  at  the  commencement  of  his  Address 
to   the  German    Nobility,  that  "  the  time  for 
silence  had  passed,  and  the  time  for  speech  had 
come.  "  He  evidently  apprehended  that  recon- 
ciliation  between    himself  and  the    Court    of 
Rome  was  impossible  ;  and  he  appears  to  have 


156       LUTHER'S  PRIMARY  WORKS 

made  up  his  mind  to  clear  his 
whatever  the  cost.  Accordingly,  in  these  three 
works,  with  a  full  heart  and  with  the  con- 
sciousness that  his  life  was  in  his  hand,  he  spoke 
out  the  convictions  which  had  been  forced  on 
him  by  the  conduct  of  the  papacy  and  of  the 
papal  theologians. 

Those  convictions  had  been  slov/ly,  and  even 
reluctantly,  admitted  ;  but  they  had  gradually 
accumulated  in  intense  force  in  Luther's  mind 
and  conscience  ;  and  when  "  the  time  for 
I  speech  had  come  "  they  burst  forth  in  a  kind 
[/of  volcanic  eruption.  Their  maturity  is  proved 
by  the  completeness  and  thoroughness  with 
which  the  questions  at  issue  are  treated.  An 
insight  into  the  deepest  theological  principles 
is  combined  with  the  keenest  apprehension  of 
practical  details.  In  the  Treatise  on  Christian 
Liberty,  we  have  the  most  vivid  of  all  embo- 
diments of  that  Life  of  faith  to  which  the 
Reformer  recalled  the  Church,  and  which  was 
the  mainspring  of  the  Reformation.  In  the 
Appeal  to  the  German  Nobility,  he  first  assert- 
ed those  rights  of  fiTe  laity  and  of  the  tempo- 
ral power  without  the  admission  of  which  no 
reformation  would  have  been  practicable,  and 


LUTHER'S  PRIMARY  WORKS        157 

he  then  denounced  with  burning  moral  indig- 
nation the  numerous  and  intolerable  abuses 
which  were  upheld  by  Roman  authority.  In 
the  third  Treatise,  on  the  Babylonish  Captivity 
of  the  Church,  he  applied  the  same  cardinal 
principles  to  the  elaborate  sacramental  system  of 
the  Church  of  Rome,  sweeping  away  by  means 
of  them  the  superstitions  with  which  the 
original  institutions  of  Christ  had  been  overlaid, 
and  thus  releasing  men's  consciences  from  a 
vast  network  of  ceremonial  bondage.  The  rest 
of  the  Reformation,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say, 
was  but  the  application  of  the  principles  vindi-.i 
cated  in  these  three  works.  They  were  applied' 
in  different  countries  with  varying  wisdom  and 
moderation  ;  but  nothing  essential  was  added 
to  them.  Luther's  genius — if  a  higher  word 
be  not  justifiable — brought  forth  at  one  birth, 
"  with  hands  and  feet,  "  to  use  his  own  image, 
and  in  full  energy,  the  vital  ideas  by  which 
Europe  was  to  be  regenerated.  He  was  no  mere 
negative  controversialist,  attacking  particular 
errors  in  detail.  His  characteristic  was  the  mas- 
culine grasp  with  which  he  seized  essential  and 
eternal  truths,  and  by  their  central  light  disper- 
sed the  darkness  in  which  men  were  groping. 


158       LUTHER'S  PRIMARY  WORKS 

It  occurred  therefore  to  my  colleague  at 
King's  College,  London,  and  myself,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  celebration  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tenary of  Luther's  birth  in  1883,  that  a  per- 
manent service  might  perhaps  be  rendered  to 
Luther's  name,  and  towards  a  due  appreciation 
of  the  principles  of  the  Reformation,  if  these 
short  but  pregnant  Treatises  were  made  more 
accessible  to  the  English  public  ;  and  in  the 
following  remarks  an  endeavour  will  simply  be 
made  to  indicate  the  nature  and  the  bearings 
of  the  central  principles  of  the  Reformer's  life 
and  work,  as  exhibited  in  the  accompanying 
translations. 

j  It  is  by  no  mere  accident  of  controversy 
that  the  Ninety-five  Theses  mark  the  starting- 
point  of  Luther's  career  as  a  Reformer.  The 
subject  with  which  they  dealt  was  not  only  in 
close  connection  with  the  centre  of  Christian 
truth,  but  it  touched  the  characteristic  thought 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  From  the  beginning  to 
the  end,  those  ages  had  been  a  stern  school  of 
moral  and  religious  discipline,  under  what  was 
universally  regarded  as  the  Divine  authority  of 
the  Church.  St.  Anselm,  with  his  intense 
apprehension  of  the   Divine  righteousness  and 


THE  NINETY-FIVE  THESES        159 

of  its  inexorable  demands,  is  at  once  the  noblest 
and  truest  type  of  the  great  school  of  thought 
of  which  he  was  the  founder.  The  special 
mission  of  the  Church  since  the  days  of  Gre- 
gory the  Great  had  been  to  tame  the  fierce 
energies  of  the  new  barbarian  world,  and  to 
bring  the  wild  passions  of  the  Teutonic  races 
under  the  control  of  the  Christian  law.  It 
was  the  task  to  which  the  necessities  of  the 
hour  seemed  to  summon  the  Church,  and  she 
roused  herself  to  the  effort  with  magnificent 
devotion.  Monks  and  schoolmen  performed 
prodigies  of  self-denial  and  self-sacrifice,  in 
order  to  realise  in  themselves,  and  to  impose 
as  far  as  possible  on  the  world  at  large,  the 
laws  of  perfection  which  the  Church  held 
before  their  vision.  The  glorious  cathedrals 
which  arose  in  the  best  period  of  the  Middle 
Ages  are  but  the  visible  types  of  those  splen- 
did structures  of  ideal  virtues,  which  a  monk 
like  St.  Bernard,  or  a  schoolman  like  St.  Tho- 
mas Aquinas,  piled  up  by  laborious  thought 
and  painful  asceticism.  Such  men  felt  them- 
selves at  all  times  surrounded  by  a  spiritual 
world,  at  once  more  glorious  in  its  beauty  and 
more  awful  in  its  terrors  than  either  the  plea- 


i6o  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

sures  or  the  miseries  of  this  world  could  ade- 
quately represent.  The  great  poet  of  the 
Middle  Ages  affords  perhaps  the  most  vivid 
representation  of  their  character  in  this  respect. 
The  horrible  images  of  the  Inferno^  the  keen 
sufferings  of  purification  in  the  Purgatorio^ 
form  the  terrible  foreground  behind  v^hich  the 
Paradiso  rises.  Those  visions  of  terror  and 
dread  and  suffering  had  stamped  themselves  on 
the  imagination  of  the  medieval  v^orld,  and 
lay  at  the  root  of  the  pov^er  with  which  the 
Church  overshadowed  it.  In  their  origin  they 
embodied  a  profound  and  noble  truth.  It  was 
a  high  and  Divine  conception  that  the  moral 
and  spiritual  world  with  which  we  are  encom- 
passed has  greater  heights  and  lower  depths 
than  are  generally  apprehended  in  the  visible 
experience  of  this  life  ;  and  Dante  has  been 
felt  to  be  in  a  unique  degree  the  poet  of 
righteousness.  But  it  is  evident,  at  the  same 
time,  what  a  terrible  temptation  was  placed  in 
the  hands  of  a  hierarchy  who  were  believed, 
in  whatever  degree,  to  wield  power  over  these 
spiritual  realities.  It  was  too  easy  to  apply 
them,  like  the  instruments  of  physical  torture 
with    which   the  age   was   familiar,   to  extort 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES  i6i 

submission  from  tender  consciences,  or  to 
make  a  bargain  with  selfish  hearts.  But  in 
substance  the  menaces  of  the  Church  appealed 
to  deep  convictions  of  the  human  conscience, 
and  the  mass  of  men  were  not  prepared  to  defy 
them. 

Now  it  was  into  this  world  of  spiritual 
terrors  that  Luther  was  born,  and  he  was  in  an 
eminent  degree  the  legitimate  child  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  The  turning-point  in  his  his- 
tory is  that  the  awful  visions  of  which  we  have 
spoken,  the  dread  of  the  Divine  judgments, 
brought  home  to  him  by  one  of  the  solemn 
accidents  of  life,  checked  him  in  a  career  which 
promised  all  worldly  prosperity,  and  drove  him 
into  a  monastery.  There,  as  he  tells  us,  he  was 
driven  almost  frantic  by  his  vivid  realisation 
of  the  demands  of  the  Divine  righteousness  on 
the  one  hand,  and  of  his  own  incapacity  to 
satisfy  them  on  the  other.  With  the  intense 
reality  characteristic  of  his  nature,  he  took  in 
desperate  earnest  all  that  the  traditional  teach- 
ing and  example  of  the  Middle  Ages  had 
taught  him  of  the  unbending  necessities  of 
Divine  justice.  But  for  the  very  reason  that 
he  accepted  those  necessities  with  such  earnest- 


II 


1 62  LUTHER  AS  A  MONK 

ness,  he  did  but  realise  the  more  completely 
the  hopelessness  of  his  struggles  to  bring  him- 
self into  conformity  with  them.  It  was  not 
because  he  was  out  of  sympathy  with  St.  Anselm 
or  St.  Bernard  or  Dante  that  he  burst  the  bonds 
of  the  system  they  represented,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  because  he  entered  even  more  deeply 
than  they  into  the  very  truths  they  asserted. 
Nothing  was  more  certain  to  him  than  that 
Divine  justice  is  inexorable  ;  no  conviction  was 
more  deeply  fixed  in  his  heart  than  that 
righteousness  is  the  supreme  law  of  human  life. 
But  the  more  he  realised  the  truth,  the  more 
terrible  he  found  it,  for  it  seemed  to  shut  him 
up  in  a  cruel  prison,  against  the  bars  of  which 
he  beat  himself  in  vain.  In  one  of  his  most 
characteristic  passages,  in  the  Introduction  to 
his  Latin  Works,  he  describes  how  he  was 
repelled  and  appalled  by  the  statement  of 
St.  Paul  respecting  the  Gospel  that  "  therein 
is  the  righteousness,  "  or  justice,  "  of  God 
revealed.  "  For,  he  says,  "  however  irrepre- 
hensible  a  life  I  had  lived  as  a  monk,  I  felt 
myself  before  God  a  sinner,  with  a  most  rest- 
less conscience,  and  I  could  not  be  confident 
that  He  was  appeased    by  my  satisfaction.      I 


LUTHER  AS  A  MONK  163 

could  not  therefore  love — nay,  I  hated — a 
God  who  was  just  and  punished  sinners  ;  and 
if  not  with  silent  blasphemy,  certainly  with 
vehement  murmuring,  I  was  indignant  against 
God.  As  if,  I  said,  it  were  not  enough  that 
sinners,  miserable  and  eternally  ruined  by 
original  sin,  should  be  crushed  with  all  kind 
of  calamity  by  the  law  of  the  Decalogue,  but 
God  in  the  Gospel  must  needs  add  grief  to 
grief,  and  by  the  Gospel  itself  must  inflict  still 
further  on  us  His  justice  and  anger.  I  raged 
with  this  savage  and  disturbed  conscience,  and 
I  knocked  importunately  at  Paul  in  that  place, 
with  burning  thirst  to  know  what  St.  Paul 
could  mean.  "  Such  an  experience  is  not  a 
mere  revolt  against  the  Middle  Ages.  In  great 
measure  it  is  but  the  full  realisation  of  their 
truest  teaching.  It  is  Dante  intensified,  and 
carried  to  the  inevitable  development  of  his 
principles. 

But  if  this  be  the  case,  what  it  meant  was 
that  the  Middle  Ages  had  brought  men  to  a 
deadlock.  They  had  led  men  up  to  a  gate  so 
strait  that  no  human  soul  could  pass  through 
it.  In  the  struggle,  men  had  devised  the  most 
elaborate  forms  of  self-torture,  and  had  made 


1 64  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

the  most  heroic  sacrifices,  and  in  the  very  des- 
peration of  their  efforts  they  had  anticipated 
the  more  vivid  insight  and  experience  of 
Luther.  The  effort,  in  fact,  had  been  too 
much  for  human  nature,  and  the  end  of  it  had 
been  that  the  Church  had  condescended  to 
human  weakness.  The  most  obvious  and  easy 
way  out  of  the  difficulty  was  to  modify,  by 
virtue  of  some  dispensing  authority,  the 
extreme  requirements  of  Divine  justice,  and  by 
a  variety  of  half-unconscious,  half-acknowledg- 
ed devices,  to  lessen  the  severity  of  the  strait 
gate  and  of  the  narrow  way.  Such  a  power, 
as  has  been  said,  was  an  enormous  temptation 
to  unscrupulous  Churchmen,  and  at  length  it 
led  to  the  hideous  abuses  of  such  preaching  of 
indulgences  as  that  of  Tetzei.  In  this  form 
the  matter  came  before  Luther  in  his  office  as 
parish  priest  and  confessor  ;  and  it  will  be 
apparent  from  the  Theses  that  what  first 
revolts  him  is  the  violation  involved  of  the 
deepest  principles  which  the  Church  of  his  day 
had  taught  him.  He  had  learned  from  it  the 
inexorable  character  of  the  Divine  law,  the 
necessity  and  blessedness  of  the  Divine  disci- 
pline   of  punishment   and    suffering  ;   he   had 


LUTHER'S  EXPERIENCE  165 

learned,  as  his  first  Thesis  declares,  that  the  law 
of  Christian  life  is  that  of  lifelong  penitence  ; 
and  he  denounced  TetzeFs  teaching  as  false  to 
the  Church  herself,  in  full  confidence  that  he 
would  be  supported  by  his  ecclesiastical 
superiors.  When  he  found  that  he  was  not — 
when,  to  his  surprise  and  consternation,  he 
found  that  the  Papal  theologians  of  the  day, 
under  the  direct  patronage  of  the  Pope  and  the 
bishops,  were  ready  to  support  the  most 
flagrant  evasions  of  the  very  principles  on 
which  their  power  had  originally  been  based 
— then  at  length,  though  most  reluctantly, 
he  turned  against  them,  and  directed  against 
the  corrupted  Church  of  the  close  of  the 
Middle  Ages  the  very  principles  he  had  learned 
from  its  best  representatives  and  from  its 
noblest  institutions. 

Luther,  in  the  course  of  his  spiritual  struggles, 
had  found  the  true  deliverance  from  what  we 
have  ventured  to  call  that  deadlock  to  which 
the  grand  vision  of  Divine  righteousness  had 
led  him.  He  realised  that  the  strait  gate  was 
impassable  by  any  human  virtue  ;  but  he  had 
found  the  solution  in  the  promise  of  a  super- 
natural deliverance  which  was  offered  to  faith. 


1 66  LUTHER'S  EXPERIENCE 

To  quote  again  his  words  in  the  preface  to  his 
Latin  works  already  referred  to  :  "  At  length 
by  the  mercy  of  God,  meditating  days  and 
nights,  I  observed  the  connection  of  the  words, 
namely,  '  Therein  is  the  righteousness  of  God 
revealed  from  faith  to  faith,  as  it  is  written, 
The  just  shall  live  by  faith.  '  Then  I  began 
to  understand  the  justice  of  God  to  be  that  by 
which  the  just  man  lives  by  the  gift  of  God, 
namely,  by  faith,  and  that  the  meaning  was 
that  the  Gospel  reveals  that  justice  of  God  by 
which  He  justifies  us  beggars  through  faith,  as 
it  is  written,  '  The  just  shall  live  by  faith.  ' 
Here  I  felt  myself  absolutely  born  again  ;  the 
gates  of  heaven  were  opened,  and  I  had  entered 
paradise  itself.  From  thenceforward  the  face 
of  the  whole  Scriptures  appeared  changed  to 
me.  I  ran  through  the  Scriptures,  as  my 
memory  would  serve  me,  and  observed  the 
same  analogy  in  other  words — as,  the  work  of 
God,  that  is,  the  work  which  God  works  in  us  ; 
the  strength  of  God,  that  with  which  He 
makes  us  strong  ;  the  wisdom  of  God,  that  with 
which  He  makes  us  wise  ;  the  power  of  God, 
the  salvation  of  God,  the  glory  of  God.  And 
now,  as   much   as  I  had  formerly  hated  that 


LUTHER'S  EXPERIENCE  167 

word  the  'justice  of  God,'  so  much  did  I  now 
love  it  and  extol  it  as  the  sweetest  of  words 
to  me  ;  and  thus  that  place  in  Paul  was  to  me 
truly  the  gate  of  paradise.  "  In  other  words, 
Luther  had  realised  that  the  Gospel,  while 
reasserting  the  inexorable  nature  of  the  moral 
law  and  deepening  its  demands,  had  revealed 
a  supernatural  and  Divine  means  of  satisfying 
and  fulfilling  it.  All  barriers  had  thus  been 
removed  between  God  and  man,  and  men  had 
been  placed  in  the  position  of  children  living 
by  faith  on  His  grace  and  bounty.  He  offers 
to  bestow  upon  them  the  very  righteousness 
He  requires  from  them,  if  they  will  but  accept 
it  at  His  hands  as  a  free  gift.  Their  true 
position  is  no  longer  that  of  mere  subjects, 
living  under  a  law  which  they  must  obey  at 
their  peril.  They  may,  indeed,  by  their  own 
act  remain  in  that  condition,  with  all  its  ter- 
rible consequences.  But  God  invites  them  to 
regard  Him  as  their  Father,  to  live  in  the  light 
of  His  countenance,  and  to  receive  from  Him 
the  daily  food  of  their  souls.  The  most 
intimate  personal  relation  is  thus  established 
between  Himself  and  them  ;  and  the  righteous- 
ness, which   by  their  own  efforts  they  could 


1 68  LUTHER'S  EXPERIENCE 

never  acquire,  He  is  ready  to  create  in  them,  if 
they  will  but  live  with  Him  in  faith  and  trust. 
That  faith,  indeed,  must  needs  be  the  begin- 
ning, and  the  most  essential  condition,  of  this 
Divine  life.  Faith  is  the  first  condition  of  all 
fellowship  between  persons  ;  and  if  a  man  is  to 
live  in  personal  fellowship  with  God,  he  must 
trust  Him  absolutely,  believe  His  promises, 
and  rest  his  whole  existence  here  and  hereafter 
upon  His  word.  But  let  a  man  do  this,  and 
then  God's  law  ceases  to  be  like  a  flaming 
sword,  turning  every  way,  with  too  fierce  an 
edge  for  human  hearts  to  bear.  It  assumes 
the  benignant  glow  of  a  revelation  of  perfect 
righteousness  which  God  Himself  will  bestow 
on  all  who  ask  it  at  His  hands. 

This  belief  is  essentially  bound  up  with  a 
distinction  on  which  great  stress  is  laid  in  the 
Theses.  It  touches  a  point  at  once  of  the 
highest  theological  import  and  of  the  simplest 
practical  experience.  This  is  the  distinction 
between  guilt  and  punishment,  or,  in  other 
words,  between  personal  forgiveness  and  the 
remission  of  the  consequences  of  sins.  In  our 
mutual  relations,  a  son  may  be  forgiven  by  his 
father,  a  wrong-doer  by  the  person  whom  he 


GUILT  AND  PUNISHMENT         169 

has  injured,  and  yet  it  may  neither  be  possible 
nor  desirable  that  the  offender  should  be  at 
once  released  from  the  consequences  of  his 
offence.  But  to  all  generous  hearts  the  personal 
forgiveness  is  infinitely  more  precious  than  the 
remission  of  the  penalty,  and  Luther  had 
learned  from  the  Scriptures  to  regard  our 
relation  to  God  in  a  similar  light.  He  realised 
that  he  must  live,  here  and  hereafter,  in 
personal  relationship  to  God  ;  and  the  forgive- 
ness of  God,  the  removal  from  him,  in  God's 
sight,  of  the  imputation  and  the  brand  of  guilt, 
his  reception  into  God's  unclouded  favour — 
this  was  the  supreme  necessity  of  his  spiritual 
existence.  If  this  v^ere  assured  to  him,  not 
only  had  he  no  fear  of  punishment,  but  he 
could  welcome  it,  whatever  its  severity,  as  part 
of  the  discipline  of  the  Divine  and  loving 
hand  to  which  he  had  trusted  himself.  His 
deepest  indignation,  consequently,  was  aroused 
by  preaching  which,  under  official  sanction, 
urged  men  to  buy  indulgence  from  punishment, 
of  whatever  kind,  as  practically  the  greatest 
spiritual  benefit  they  could  obtain  ;  and  he 
devoted  his  whole  energy  to  assert  the  supreme 
blessing  of  that  remission  from  guilt,  of  which 


lyo         GUILT  AND  PUNISHMENT 

the  preachers  of  indulgences  said  practically 
nothing.  It  is  this  remission  of  guilt,  this 
personal  forgiveness,  which  is  the  primary 
element  in  the  justification  of  which  he  spoke. 
It  involves  of  course  salvation  from  the  final 
ruin  and  doom  which  sin,  and  the  moral 
corruption  of  our  nature,  would  naturally 
entail  ;  but  its  chief  virtue  does  not  consist  in 
deliverance  from  punishment,  nor  does  it  in 
any  way  derogate  from  the  truth  that  "  we 
must  all  appear  before  the  judgment-seat  of 
Christ,  that  every  one  may  receive  the  things 
done  in  his  body,  according  to  that  he  hath 
done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad.  "  What  it 
taught  men  was,  to  accept  all  God's  judgments 
and  discipline  in  perfect  peace  of  soul,  as  being 
assured  of  His  love  and  favour. 

No  divine,  in  fact,  has  ever  dwelt  with 
more  intense  conviction  on  the  blessedness  of 
the  discipline  of  suffering  and  of  the  Cross. 
The  closing  Theses  express  his  deepest  feelings 
in  this  respect,  and  a  passage  in  one  of  his 
letters,  written  before  the  controversy  about 
indulgences  had  arisen,  affords  a  most  interest- 
ing illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
principles  he  came  forward  to  assert  had  grown 


PEACE  AND  THE  CROSS  171 

out  of  his  personal  experience.  "  Away,"  he 
says  in  the  Ninety-second  and  Ninety-third 
Theses,  "  with  all  those  prophets  who  say  to 
the  people  of  Christ,  '  Peace,  peace, '  and  there 
is  no  peace.  Blessed  be  all  those  prophets 
who  say  to  the  people  of  Christ,  '  The  Cross, 
the  Cross,'  and  there  is  no  cross."  These 
somewhat  enigmatic  expressions  are  at  once 
explained  in  the  letter  referred  to,  written  to 
a  prior  of  the  Augustinian  order  on  the  22nd 
of  June,  1516.^     He  says, — 

"  You  are  seeking  and  craving  for  peace,  but 
in  the  wrong  order.  For  you  are  seeking  it  as 
the  world  giveth,  not  as  Christ  giveth.  Know 
you  not  that  God  is  '  wonderful  among  His 
saints, '  for  this  reason  :  that  He  establishes  His 
peace  in  the  midst  of  no  peace,  that  is,  of  all 
temptations  and  afflictions  .?  It  is  said,  '  Thou 
shalt  dwell  in  the  midst  of  thine  enemies.  ' 
The  man  who  possesses  peace  is  not  the  man 
whom  no  one  disturbs — that  is  the  peace  of 
the  world  ;  he  is  the  man  whom  all  men  and 
all  things  disturb,  but  who  bears  all  patiently, 
and  with  joy.  You  are  saying  with  Israel, 
'  Peace,  peace, '  and  there  is  no  peace.      Learn 

^  Letters,  edited  by  De  Wette,  i.  27. 


172     PEACE  AND  THE  CROSS 

to  say  rather  with  Christ,  '  The  Cross,  the 
Cross,  *  and  there  is  no  cross.  For  the  Cross 
at  once  ceases  to  be  the  Cross  as  soon  as  you 
have  joyfully  exclaimed,  in  the  language  of  the 
hymn, — 

"  '  Blessed  Cross,  above  all  other, 
One  and  only  noble  tree. 

One  other  extract  of  the  same  import  it  may 
be  well  to  quote  from  these  early  letters,  as  it 
is  similarly  the  germ  of  one  of  the  noblest  pas- 
sages in  Luther's  subsequent  explanation  of  the 
Ninety-five  Theses.  ^  The  letter  was  addressed 
to  a  brother  Augustinian  on  the  1 5th  of  April, 
15 1 6.     Luther  says, — 

"  The  Cross  of  Christ  has  been  divided 
throughout  the  whole  world,  and  every  one 
meets   with   his   own  portion  of  it.      Do  not 

^  It  is  a  pleasure  to  be  able  to  refer  for  this  passage  to  the 
new  Critical  Edition  of  Luther's  Works,  now  in  course  of 
publication,  in  Germany,  vol.  i,  p.  613,  line  21.  This 
magnificent  edition,  prepared  under  the  patronage  of  the 
German  Emperor,  is  the  best  of  all  contributions  to  the 
Commemoration  of  1883.  It  must  supersede  all  other  edi- 
tions, and  it  ought  to  find  a  place  in  all  considerable  libraries 
in  England.  A  translation  of  the  passage  in  question  will  be 
found  in  the  Bampton  Lectures  of  the  present  writer,  p.  186. 


THE  CROSS  AND  JOY  173 

you  therefore  reject  it,  but  rather  accept  it  as 
the  most  holy  rehc,  to  be  kept,  not  in  a  gold 
or  silver  chest,  but  in  a  golden  heart,  that  is, 
a  heart  imbued  with  gentle  charity.  For  if, 
by  contact  with  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ, 
the  wood  of  the  Cross  received  such  consecra- 
tion that  its  relics  are  deemed  supremely  pre- 
cious, how  much  more  should  injuries,  perse- 
cutions, sufferings,  and  the  hatred  of  men, 
whether  of  the  just  or  of  the  unjust,  be  regarded 
as  the  most  sacred  of  all  relics — relics  which, 
not  by  the  mere  touch  of  His  flesh,  but  by  the 
charity  of  His  most  bitterly  tried  heart  and  of 
His  Divine  will,  were  embraced,  kissed,  blessed, 
and  abundantly  consecrated  ;  for  thus  was  a 
curse  transformed  into  a  blessing,  and  injury 
into  justice,  and  passion  into  glory,  and  the 
*   Cross  into  joy.  "  ^ 

The  few  letters,  in  fact,  in  our  possession, 
written  by  Luther  before  he  came  forward  in 
1 5 17,  are  sufficient  to  afford  the  most  vivid 
proof  both  of  the  mature  thought  and  expe- 
rience in  which  his  convictions  were  rooted, 
and  of  their  being  prompted,  not  by  the  spirit 
of  reckless    confidence    to    which    they  have 

^  Letters^  edited  by  De  Wette,  i.  19. 


174         JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH 

sometimes  been  strangely  ascribed,  but  by  the 
deepest  sympathy  with  the  lessons  of  the  Cross. 
The  purport  of  his  characteristic  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith  was  not  to  give  men  the 
assurance  of  immunity  from  suffering  and 
sorrow,  as  the  consequence  of  sin,  but  to  give 
them  peace  of  conscience  and  joy  of  heart  in 
the  midst  of  such  punishments.  What  it 
proclaimed  was  that,  if  men  would  but  believe 
it,  they  could  at  any  moment  grasp  God's  for- 
giveness, and  live  henceforth  in  the  assured 
happiness  of  His  personal  favour  and  love. 
Of  this  blessing  His  promise  was  the  only  pos- 
sible warrant,  and,  like  all  other  promises,  it 
could  only  be  accepted  by  faith.  Every  man 
is  invited  to  believe  it,  since  it  is  offered  to  all 
for  Christ's  sake  ;  but,  by  the  nature  of  the 
case,  none  can  enjoy  it  who  do  not  believe  it. 
The  ground,  however,  on  which  this  promise 
was  based  affords  another  striking  illustration 
of  the  way  in  which  Luther's  teaching  was 
connected  with  that  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Together  with  that  keen  apprehension  of  the 
Divine  judgments  and  of  human  sin  just  men- 
tioned, the  awful  vision  of  our  Lord's  sufferings 
and  of  His  atonement  overshadowed  the  whole 


THE  TRUE  SACRIFICE  175 

thought  of  those  times.  St.  Anselm,  in  the 
Cur  Deus  Homo^  had  aroused  deeper  meditation 
on  this  subject  than  had  before  been  bestowed 
upon  it  ;  and  in  this,  as  in  other  matters,  he  is 
the  type  of  the  grand  school  of  thought  which 
he  founded.  As  in  his  mind,  so  throughout 
the  Middle  Ages,  in  proportion  to  the  appre- 
hension of  the  terrible  nature  of  the  Divine 
justice  is  the  prominence  given  to  the  sacrificial 
means  for  averting  the  Divine  wrath.  The 
innumerable  Masses  of  the  later  Middle  Ages 
were  so  many  confessions  of  the  deep-felt  need 
of  atonement;  and,  formal  as  they  ultimately  be- 
came, they  were,  in  intention,  so  many  cries  for 
forgiveness  from  the  terror-struck  consciences 
of  sinful  men  and  women.  Luther  was  a  true 
child  of  the  Church  in  his  keen  apprehension 
of  the  same  need,  and  it  was  precisely  because 
be  realised  it  with  exceptional  truth  and  depth 
that  he  was  forced  to  seek  some  deeper  satis- 
faction than  the  offering  of  Masses  could  aff^ord. 
He  reasserted  the  truth  that  the  need  had  been 
met  and  answered  once  for  all  by  the  sacrifice  on 
the  Cross  ;  and  by  proclaiming  the  sufficiency 
of  that  one  eternal  off^ering  he  swept  away  all 
the  "  sacrifices  of  masses,  "  while  at  the  same 


176  THE  TRUE  SACRIFICE 

time  he  provided  the  answer  to  the  craving  to 
which  they  testified.  The  doctrine  of  the 
Atonement,  as  asserted  at  the  Reformation,  is 
the  true  answer  to  that  cry  of  the  human  con- 
science which  the  Church  of  the  preceding  age 
had  vainly  endeavoured  to  satisfy.  The  Sacra- 
ment, of  which  the  Mass  was  a  perversion,  was 
thus  restored  to  its  true  character  as  a  pledge 
and  an  instrument  of  blessing  bestowed  by  God, 
instead  of  a  propitiatory  offering  on  the  part 
of  men.  The  cross  of  Christ,  the  favourite 
symbol  of  the  medieval  Church,  was  thus  held 
aloft  by  the  Reformer  in  still  deeper  reality,  as 
the  central  symbol  of  the  Church's  message, 
and  as  the  one  adequate  ground  for  the  faith 
to  which  he  called  men. 

Now  the  view  of  the  Christian  life  involved 
in  this  principle  of  justification  by  faith  found 
its  most  complete  and  beautiful  expression  in 
the  treatise  On  Christian  Liberty^  and  a  brief 
notice  of  the  teaching  of  that  treatise  will  best 
serve  to  explain  the  connection  between  Luther's 
cardinal  doctrine  and  the  other  principles  which 
he  asserted.  As  is  explained  at  the  close  of  the 
introductory  letter  to  Leo  X,  he  designed  the 
treatise  as  a  kind  of  peace-offering  to  the  Pope, 


ON  CHRISTIAN  LIBERTY  177 

and  as  a  declaration  of  the  sole  objects  he  had  at 
heart,  and  to  which  he  desired  to  devote  his  life. 
"  It  is  a  small  matter,  "  he  says,  "  if  you  look 
to  its  bulk,  but  unless  I  mistake,  it  is  a  sum- 
mary of  the  Christian  life  in  small  compass,  if 
you  apprehend  its  meaning.  "  In  fact,  it  pre- 
sents the  dearest  view  of  Luther's  theology, 
alike  in  its  principles  and  in  its  practice, 
almost  entirely  disembarrassed  of  the  contro- 
versial elements  by  which,  under  the  inevitable 
pressure  of  circumstances,  his  other  works,  and 
especially  those  of  a  later  date,  were  disturbed. 
Perhaps  the  only  part  of  his  works  to  compare 
with  it  in  this  respect  is  the  precious  collection 
of  his  House-postills,  or  Exposition  of  the 
Gospels  for  the  Sundays  of  the  Christian  Year. 
They  were  delivered  within  his  domestic  circle, 
and  recorded  by  two  of  his  pupils,  and  though 
but  imperfectly  reported,  they  are  treasures  of 
evangelical  exposition,  exhibiting  in  a  rare 
degree  the  exquisitely  childlike  character  of 
the  Reformer's  faith,  and  marked  by  all  the 
simplicity  and  the  poetry  of  feeling  by  which 
his  mind  was  distinguished.  It  is  by  such 
works  as  these,  and  not  simply  by  his  contro- 
versial treatises  or  commentaries,  that   Luther 

12 


178  ON  CHRISTIAN  LIBERTY 

must  be  judged,  if  we  wish  either  to  understand 
his  inner  character,  or  to  comprehend  the  vast 
personal  influence  he  exerted.  But  in  its 
essence  the  Gospel  which  he  preached,  the 
substance  of  what  he  had  learned  from  the 
temptations,  the  prayers,  the  meditations — ten- 
tationes^  orationes^  jneditattones — of  his  life  as  a 
monk,  is  sufficiently  embodied  in  the  short 
Treatise  on  Christian  Liberty. 

The  argument  of  the  treatise  is  summed  up, 
with  the  antithetical  force  so  often  character- 
istic of  great  genius,  in  the  two  propositions 
laid  down  at  the  outset  :  "  A  Christian  man  is 
the  most  free  lord  of  all  and  subject  to  none  ; 
a  Christian  man  is  the  most  dutiful  servant  of 
all  and  subject  to  every  one."  The  first  of 
these  propositions  expresses  the  practical  result 
of  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith.  The 
Christian  is  in  possession  of  a  promise  of  God 
which  in  itself,  and  in  the  assurance  it  involves, 
is  a  greater  blessing  to  him  than  all  other 
privileges  or  enjoyments  whatever.  Everything 
sinks  into  insignificance  compared  with  this 
Word  and  Gospel.  "  Let  us,"  he  says,  "  hold 
it  for  certain  and  firmly  established  that  the 
soul   can   do    without   everything   except  the 


ON  CHRISTIAN  LIBERTY  179 

word  of  God,  without  which  none  of  its  wants 
are  provided  for.  But,  having  the  word,  it  is 
rich  and  wants  for  nothing,  since  it  is  the 
word  of  life,  of  truth,  of  light,  of  peace,  of 
justification,  of  salvation,  of  joy,  of  liberty,  of 
wisdom,  of  virtue,  of  grace,  of  glory,  and  of 
every  good  thing."  If  it  be  asked,  "  What  is 
this  word  ?  "  he  answers  that  the  Apostle  Paul 
explains  it,  namely,  that  "  it  is  the  Gospel  of 
God  concerning  His  Son,  incarnate,  suffering, 
risen,  and  glorified  through  the  Spirit,  the 
Sanctifier.  To  preach  Christ  is  to  feed  the 
soul,  to  justify  it,  to  set  it  free,  and  to  save  it, 
if  it  believes  the  preaching.  .  .  .  For  the  word 
of  God  cannot  be  received  and  honoured  by 
any  works,  but  by  faith  alone. "  This  is  the 
cardinal  point  around  which  not  merely 
Luther's  theology,  but  his  whole  life,  turns. 
God  had  descended  into  the  world,  had  spoken 
to  him  by  His  Son,  His  Apostles,  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  the  voice  of  the  Church,  and 
promised  him  forgiveness  in  the  present,  and 
final  deliverance  from  evil  in  the  future,  if  he 
would  but  trust  Him.  The  mere  possession 
of  such  a  promise  outweighed  in  Luther's 
view   all    other   considerations   whatever,   and 


i8o  ON  CHRISTIAN  LIBERTY 

absolute  faith  was  due  to  it.  No  higher 
offence  could  be  offered  to  God  than  to  reject 
or  doubt  His  promise,  and  at  the  same  time 
no  higher  honour  could  be  rendered  Him  than 
to  believe  it.  The  importance  and  value  of 
the  virtue  of  faith  is  thus  determined  entirely 
by  the  promise  on  v^hich  it  rests.  These 
"  promises  of  God  are  words  of  holiness,  truth, 
righteousness,  liberty,  and  peace,  and  are  full 
of  universal  goodness,  and  the  soul  which 
cleaves  to  them  with  a  firm  faith  is  so  united 
to  them,  nay,  thoroughly  absorbed  by  them, 
that  it  not  only  partakes  in,  but  is  penetrated 
and  saturated  by,  all  their  virtue.  For  if  the 
touch  of  Christ  was  health,  how  much  more 
does  that  most  tender  spiritual  touch,  nay, 
absorption  of  the  word,  communicate  to  the 
soul  all  that  belongs  to  the  word  !  In  this 
way  therefore  the  soul  through  faith  alone, 
without  works,  is  by  the  word  of  God  justified, 
sanctified,  endued  with  truth,  peace,  and 
liberty,  and  filled  full  with  every  good  thing, 
and  is  truly  made  the  child  of  God.  ...  As  is 
the  word,  such  is  the  soul  made  by  it,  just  as 
iron  exposed  to  fire  glows  like  fire  on  account 
of  its  union  with   the  fire."      Moreover,  jusc 


ON  CHRISTIAN  LIBERTY  i8i 

as  it  is  faith  which  unites  husband  and  wife, 
so  faith  in  Christ  unites  the  soul  to  Him  in 
indissoluble  union.  For  "  if  a  true  marriage, 
nay,  by  far  the  most  perfect  of  all  marriages, 
is  accomplished  between  them — for  human 
marriages  are  but  feeble  types  of  this  one  great 
marriage — then  it  follows  that  all  they  have 
becomes  theirs  in  common,  as  well  good  things 
as  evil  things;  so  that  whatsoever  Christ  possess- 
es the  believing  soul  may  take  to  itself  and 
boast  of  as  its  own,  and  whatever  belongs  to 
the  soul  Christ  claims  as  His.  .  .  .  Thus  the 
believing  soul,  by  the  pledge  of  its  faith  in 
Christ,  becomes  free  from  all  sin,  fearless  of 
death,  safe  from  hell,  and  endowed  with  the 
eternal  righteousness,  life  and  salvation  of  its 
Husband  Christ.'' 

It  is  essential  to  dwell  upon  these  passages, 
since  the  force  of  the  Reformer's  great  doctrine 
cannot  possibly  be  apprehended  as  long  as  he 
is  supposed  to  attribute  the  efficacy  of  which 
he  speaks  to  any  inherent  quality  in  the  human 
heart  itself.  It  is  the  word  and  promise  of 
God  which  is  the  creative  force.  But  this 
summons  a  man  into  a  sphere  above  this  world, 
bids   him   rest    upon   the   Divine   love   which 


1 82  ON  CHRISTIAN  LIBERTY 

speaks  to  him,  and  places  him  on  the  eternal 
foundation  of  a  direct  covenant  with  God 
Himself  in  Christ.  As  in  the  Theses,  so  in 
this  treatise,  Luther  reiterates  that  this  in  no 
way  implies  exemption  from  the  discipline  of 
suffering.  "  Yea, "  he  says,  "  the  more  of  a 
Christian  any  man  is,  to  so  many  the  more 
evils,  sufferings,  and  deaths  is  he  subject,  as 
we  see  in  the  first  place  in  Christ  the  first-born, 
and  in  all  His  holy  brethren."  The  power  of 
which  he  speaks  is  a  spiritual  one  "  which 
rules  in  the  midst  of  enemies,  in  the  midst  of 
distresses.  It  is  nothing  else  than  that  strength 
is  made  perfect  in  my  weakness,  and  that  I 
can  turn  all  things  to  the  profit  of  my  salva- 
tion ;  so  that  even  the  cross  and  death  are 
compelled  to  serve  me  and  to  work  together 
for  my  salvation. "  "  It  is  a  lofty  and  eminent 
dignity,  a  true  and  almighty  dominion,  a 
spiritual  empire,  in  which  there  is  nothing  so 
good,  nothing  so  bad,  as  not  to  work  together 
for  my  good,  if  only  I  believe. " 

If  we  compare  this  language  with  those 
conceptions  of  spiritual  terror  by  which  Luther 
had  been  driven  into  a  monastery,  and  under 
which,  like  so  many  in  his  age,  he  had  groaned 


ON  CHRISTIAN  LIBERTY  183 

and  struggled  in  despair,  we  can  appreciate  the 
immense  deliverance  which  he  had  experienced. 
The  Divine  promise  had  lifted  him  "  out  of 
darkness  and  out  of  the  shadow  of  death,  and 
had  broken  his  bonds  in  sunder.  '*  It  is  this 
which  is  the  source  of  the  undaunted  and 
joyful  faith  which  marks  the  whole  of  the 
Reformer's  public  career.  "  Whose  heart,  " 
he  exclaims,  "  would  not  rejoice  in  its  inmost 
core  at  hearing  these  things  ?  Whose  heart, 
on  receiving  so  great  a  consolation,  would  not 
become  sweet  with  the  love  of  Christ,  a  love 
to  which  it  can  never  attain  by  any  laws  or 
works  ?  Who  can  injure  such  a  heart,  or 
make  it  afraid  ?  If  the  consciousness  of  sin  or 
the  horror  of  death  rush  in  upon  it,  it  is 
prepared  to  hope  in  the  Lord,  and  is  fearless 
of  such  evils  and  undisturbed,  until  it  shall 
look  down  upon  its  enemies. "  Such  a  con- 
viction, uttered  in  such  burning  language, 
lifted  the  same  cloud  of  darkness  and  fear  from 
the  hearts  of  the  common  people  of  that  day, 
and  was  welcomed  as  good  tidings  of  great  joy 
by  multitudes  of  burdened  and  terror-stricken 
hearts.  Nothing  is  more  characteristic  of 
Luther's  preaching,  and  of  the  Reformers  who 


i84  ON  CHRISTIAN  LIBERTY 

follow  him,  than  the  sense  they  display  that 
they  have  before  them  souls  "  weary  and 
heavy-laden.  "  Their  language  presupposes 
the  prevalence  of  that  atmosphere  of  spiritual 
apprehension  and  gloom  already  described,  and 
their  grand  aim  is  to  lead  men  out  of  it  into 
the  joy  and  peace  and  liberty  of  the  Gospel. 
The  consequence  is  that  a  new  confidence, 
hope,  and  energy  is  infused  into  the  moral  and 
spiritual  world  of  that  day.  The  tone  of 
unbounded  joy  and  hope  which  marks  the 
earliest  Christian  literature,  particularly  in  the 
Apostolic  Fathers,  reappears  in  such  a  treatise 
as  we  are  considering,  and  in  the  whole 
religious  thought  of  the  Reformers  ;  and  it 
would  almost  seem  as  if  the  long  agony  of  the 
Middle  Ages  had  but  enhanced  the  joy  of  the 
final  deliverance. 

It  is  unnecessary,  for  our  present  purpose,  to 
dwell  long  upon  the  second  point  of  the  trea- 
tise, in  which  Luther  illustrates  his  second 
proposition  :  that  "  a  Christian  man  is  the  most 
dutiful  servant  of  all  and  subject  to  every  one.  " 
It  will  be  enough  to  observe  that  Luther  is 
just  as  earnest  in  insisting  upon  the  application 
of  faith  in  the  duties  of  charity  and  self-disci- 


ON  CHRISTIAN  LIBERTY  185 

pline,  as  upon  the  primary  importance  of  faith 
itself.  The  spirit  of  faith,  he  says,  "  applies 
itself  with  cheerfulness  and  zeal  "  to  restrain 
and  repress  the  impulses  of  the  lower  nature. 
"  Here  works  begin  ;  here  a  man  must  not  take 
his  ease  ;  here  he  must  give  heed  to  exercise 
his  body  by  fastings,  watchings,  labour,  and 
other  reasonable  discipline,  so  that  it  may  be 
subdued  to  the  spirit,  and  obey  and  conform 
itself  to  the  inner  man  and  to  faith.  "  Simi- 
larly he  will  give  himself  up  to  the  service  of 
others,  and  it  is  partly  with  a  view  to  rendering 
them  such  service  that  he  will  discipline  his 
body  and  keep  it  in  due  energy  and  soundness. 
He  starts  from  the  belief  that  God,  without 
merit  on  his  part,  has  of  His  pure  and  free 
mercy  bestowed  on  him,  an  unworthy  creature, 
all  the  riches  of  justification  and  salvation  in 
Christ,  so  that  he  is  no  longer  in  want  of 
anything  except  of  faith  to  believe  that  this  is 
so.  For  such  a  Father  then,  who  has  over- 
whelmed him  with  these  inestimable  riches  of 
His,  must  he  not  freely,  cheerfully,  and  from 
voluntary  zeal,  do  all  that  he  knows  will  be 
pleasing  to  Him  and  acceptable  in  His  sight  ? 
"  I  will  therefore,  "  he  says,  "  give  myself  as  a 


1 86  ON  CHRISTIAN  LIBERTY 

sort  of  Christ  to  my  neighbour,  as  Christ  has 
given  Himslf  to  me  ;  and  will  do  nothing  in 
this  life  except  what  I  see  will  be  needful, 
advantageous,  and  wholesome  for  my  neighbour, 
since  by  faith  I  abound  in  all  good  things  in 
Christ.  "  These  practical  considerations  will 
afford  the  measure  by  which  a  man  determines 
the  discipline  to  which  he  subjects  himself,  and 
the  ceremonies  which  he  observes.  They  will 
not  be  observed  for  their  own  sake,  but  as 
means  to  an  end,  and  therefore  will  never  be 
practised  in  excess,  as  though  there  were  some 
merit  in  the  performance  of  them.  They  are 
like  the  scaffoldings  of  builders,  valuable  only  as 
a  temporary  assistance  in  the  construction  of 
the  building  itself.  "  We  do  not  condemn 
works  and  ceremonies ;  nay,  we  set  the  highest 
value  on  them.  We  only  condemn  that  opinion 
of  works  which  regards  them  as  constituting 
true  righteousness.  "  In  asserting  these  prin- 
ciples, Luther  was  certainly  putting  the  axe  to 
the  root  of  the  portentous  growth  of  ascetic 
and  ceremonial  observances  which  prevailed  in 
his  day,  and  which  were  too  generally  regarded 
as  of  the  very  essence  of  religion.  He  enabled 
men,  as  it  were,    to  look  on    such  ceremonies 


ON  CHRISTIAN  LIBERTY  187 

from  the  outside,  as  a  thing  external  to  them, 
and  to  reduce  or  rearrange  them  with  a  simple 
view  to  practical  usefulness.  But  no  more 
earnest  exhortations  to  due  self-discipline,  and 
to  true  charity  could  well  be  found  than  are 
contained  in  the  second  part  of  the  De  Libertaie, 
It  will  be  evident,  however,  what  a  power- 
ful instrument  of  reformation  was  placed  in 
men's  hands  by  the  principles  of  this  treatise. 
Every  Christian  man,  by  virtue  of  the  promise 
of  Christ,  was  proclaimed  free,  so  far  as  the 
eternal  necessities  of  his  soul  were  concerned, 
from  all  external  and  human  conditions  what- 
ever. Nothing,  indeed,  was  further  from 
Luther's  intention  or  inclination  than  the  over- 
throw of  existing  order,  or  the  disparagement 
of  any  existing  authority  which  could  be 
reasonably  justified.  His  letter  to  Pope  Leo, 
prefixed  to  the  treatise  we  have  been  consi- 
dering, shows  that,  while  denouncing  unspar- 
ingly the  abuses  of  the  Court  of  Rome,  he  was 
sincere  in  his  deference  to  the  see  of  Rome 
itself.  But  the  principle  of  Justification  by 
Faith  enabled  him  to  proclaim  that  if  that  see, 
or  any  existing  Church  authority,  misused  its 
power,  and  refused  to  reform  abuses,  then,  in 


1 88  ON  CHRISTIAN  LIBERTY 

the  last  resort,  the  soul  of  man  could  do  without 
it.  In  that  day  at  all  events — and  perhaps  in 
our  own  to  a  greater  extent  than  is  sometimes 
supposed — this  conviction  supplied  the  fulcrum 
which  was  essential  for  any  effectual  reforming 
movement.  As  is  observed  by  the  Church 
historian  Gieseler,  in  his  admirable  account 
of  the  early  history  of  the  Reformation,  the 
papacy  had  ever  found  its  strongest  support  in 
the  people  at  large.  In  spite  of  all  the  dis- 
content and  disgust  provoked  by  the  corruption 
of  the  Church  and  the  clergy,  an  enormous, 
though  indefinite,  authority  was  still  popularly 
attributed  to  the  Pope  and  the  ecclesiastical 
hierarchy.  The  Pope  was  believed  to  be,  in 
some  sense  or  other,  the  supreme  administrator 
of  spiritual  powers  which  were  effectual  in  the 
next  world  as  well  as  in  the  present  ;  and 
consequently,  when  any  controversy  with  the 
Church  came  to  a  crisis,  men  shrank  from  direct 
defiance  of  the  papal  authority.  They  did  not 
feel  that  they  had  any  firm  ground  on  which 
they  could  stand  if  they  incurred  its  formal 
condemnation  ;  and  thus  it  always  had  at  its 
command,  in  the  strongest  possible  sense,  the 
ultima  ratio  of  rulers.     The  convictions  to  which 


ON  CHRISTIAN  LIBERTY  189 

Luther  had  been  led  at  once  annihilated  these 
pretensions.  "  One  thing,  and  one  alone,  "  he 
declared,  "  is  necessary  for  life,  justification, 
and  Christian  liberty  ;  and  that  is  the  most 
holy  Word  of  God,  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  " 
As  we  have  seen,  he  proclaimed  it  "  for  certain, 
and  firmly  established,  that  the  soul  can  do 
without  everything  except  the  word  of  God.  " 
It  is  the  mission  of  the  Christian  ministry,  in 
its  administration  of  the  word  and  sacraments, 
to  convey  this  Gospel  to  the  soul,  and  to  arouse 
a  corresponding  faith.  But  the  promise  is  not 
annexed  indissolubly  to  that  administration, 
and  the  only  invariable  rule  of  salvation  is  that 
"  the  just  shall  live  by  faith.  "  By  this  prin- 
ciple, that  vague  fear  of  the  spiritual  powers 
of  the  hierarchy  was  removed,  and  men  were 
endowed  with  real  Christian  liberty. 

But  the  principle  went  still  further  ;  for  it 
vindicated  for  the  laity  the  possession  of  spirit- 
ual faculties  and  powers  similar  in  kind  to 
those  of  the  clergy.  All  Christian  men  are 
admitted  to  the  privilege  of  priesthood,  and 
are  "  worthy  to  appear  before  God  to  pray  for 
others,  and  to  teach  one  another  mutually  the 
things  which  are  of  God.  "      In  case  of  neces- 


I90  ON  CHRISTIAN  LIBERTY 

sity,  as  is  universally  recognised,  Baptism  can 
be  validly  administered  by  lay  hands  ;  and 
English  divines,  of  the  most  unimpeachable 
authority  on  the  subject,  have  similarly  recog- 
nised that  the  valid  administration  of  the  Holy 
Communion  is  not  dependent  on  the  ordination 
of  the  minister  by  episcopal  authority.^  Luther 
urges  accordingly  that  all  Christians  possess 
virtually  the  capacities  w^hich,  as  a  matter  of 
order,  are  commonly  restricted  to  the  clergy. 
Whether  that  restriction  is  properly  dependent 
upon  regular  devolution  from  apostolic  author- 
ity, or  v^hether  the  ministerial  commission 
can  be  sufficiently  conferred  by  appointment 
from  the  Christian  community  or  congregation 
as  a  v^hole,  becomes  on  this  principle  a  second- 
ary point.  Luther  pronounced  with  the 
utmost  decision  in  favour  of  the  latter  alter- 
native ;  but  the  essential  element  of  his  teaching 
is  independent  of  this  question.  By  v^hatever 
right  the  exercise  of  the  ministry  may  be 
restricted  to  a  particular  body  of  men,  v^hat  he 
asserted  was  that  the  functions  of  the  clergy 
are  simply   ministerial,   and  that  they  do  but 

^  See,  for  instance,  Bishop  Cosin's  Worh,  Appendix,  vol. 
i,  p.  31,  in  the  Library  of  Anglo-Catholic  Theology. 


RIGHTS  OF  THE  LAITY  191 

exercise,    on   behalf  of  all,  powers  which  all 
virtually  possess. 

This  principle  Luther  proceeded  to  assert  in 
the  momentous  treatise  translated  in  the  volume 
under  review  :  the  Address  to  the  Christian 
Nobility  of  the  German  Nation  respecti?2g  the  Re- 
formation of  the  Christian  Estate,  This  treatise  is 
perhaps  the  one  which  appealed  most  widely 
and  directly  to  the  German  nation  at  large. 
Luther  completed  it  at  the  very  moment  when 
the  bull  of  excommunication  against  him  was 
being  prepared  ;  and  it  contributed^  perhaps 
more  than  anything,  to  paralyse  the  influence 
of  that  bull  with  the  mass  of  the  people  and 
their  lay  leaders.  It  appeared  in  August,  i  5  20, 
and  by  the  1 8  th  of  that  month  more  than  four 
thousand  copies  had  been  already  dispersed — a 
prodigious  circulation,  considering  the  state  of 
literature  at  that  day.  The  reader,  however, 
will  not  be  surprised  at  this  popularity  of  the 
treatise,  when  he  sees  with  what  astonishing 
vigour,  frankness,  humour,  good  sense,  and  at 
the  same  time  intense  moral  indignation,  Luther 
denounces  in  it  the  corruptions  of  the  Church, 
and  the  injuries  inflicted  by  the  Court  of  Rome 
on   the   German   people.      So    tremendous  an 


192        APPEAL  TO  THE  NOBILITY 

indictment,  sustained  with  such  intense  and 
concentratred  force,  could  hardly  be  paralleled 
in  literature.  The  truth  of  the  charges  alleged 
in  it  could  be  amply  sustained  by  reference  to 
Erasmus's  works  alone,  particularly  to  the 
Encomium  Morice  ;  but  Erasmus  lacked  alike  the 
moral  energy  necessary  to  rouse  the  action  of 
the  laity,  and  the  spiritual  insight  necessary  to 
justify  that  action.  Luther  possessed  both  ; 
and  it  was  the  combination  of  the  two  which 
rendered  him  so  mighty  a  force.  It  is  this 
perhaps  which  essentially  distinguishes  him 
from  previous  reformers.  They  attacked  par- 
ticular errors  and  abuses,  and  deserve  unbounded 
honour  for  the  protest  they  raised ;  and  Wycliffe, 
in  particular,  merits  the  homage  of  Englishmen 
as  one  of  the  chief  motive  powers  in  the  first 
reforming  movement.  But  they  did  not  assert, 
at  least  with  sufficient  clearness,  the  central 
principles  without  which  all  reform  was  imprac- 
ticable— that  of  the  equal  rights  of  laity  and 
clergy,  and  that  of  the  soul's  independence  of 
all  human  power,  by  virtue  of  the  truth  of 
justification  by  faith.  Luther's  doctrine  of 
Christian  liberty  was  the  emancipation  alike  of 
individuals  and  of  the  laity  at  large.      It  vindi- 


LAY  PRIVILEGES  193 

cated  for  the  whole  lay  estate,  and  for  all  ranks 
and  conditions  of  lay  life,  a  spiritual  dignity, 
and  a  place  in  the  spiritual  life  of  the  Church. 
It  restored  a  sense  of  independent  responsibility 
to  all  natural  authorities  ;  and  it  reasserted  the 
sacredness  of  all  natural  relations.  Practically, 
even  if  not  theoretically,  the  Roman  system 
had  disparaged  the  ordinary  relations  of  life,  as 
compared  with  the  so-called  "  religious  "  or 
ecclesiastical.  Luther,  by  placing  all  men  and 
women  on  the  same  spiritual  standing-ground, 
swept  away  any  such  privileges  ;  and  gave  men 
as  clear  a  conscience,  and  as  great  a  sense  of 
spiritual  dignity,  in  the  ordinary  duties  of 
marriage,  of  fatherhood,  of  government,  and  in 
the  common  offices  of  life,  as  in  any  ecclesias- 
tical order. 

The  Address  to  the  Nobility  of  the  German 
Nation  exhibits  these  principles,  and  their 
application  to  the  practical  problems  of  the 
day,  in  the  most  vigorous  and  popular  form  ; 
and  if  some  expressions  appear  too  sweeping 
and  violent,  due  allowance  must  be  made  for 
the  necessity  which  Luther  must  have  felt  of 
appealing  with  the  utmost  breadth  and  force 
to    the    popular    mind.       But   it    remains    to 


13 


194  THE  CHURCH  EMANCIPATED 
consider  a  further  aspect  of  these  principles 
which  is  illustrated  by  the  third  treatise  trans- 
lated in  this  volume  :  that  on  the  Babylonish 
Captivity  of  the  Church,  Luther,  as  has  been 
seen,  was  appealing  to  laity  and  clergy  alike, 
on  the  ground  of  their  spiritual  freedom,  to 
abolish  the  abuses  of  the  Roman  Church. 
But  it  became  at  once  a  momentous  question 
by  what  principles  the  exercise  of  that  liberty 
was  to  be  guided,  and  within  what  limits  it 
was  to  be  exerted.  In  a  very  short  time 
fanatics  sprang  up,  who  claimed  to  exercise 
such  liberty  without  any  restrictions  at  all, 
and  who  refused  to  recognise  any  standard  but 
that  of  their  own  supposed  inspiration.  But 
the  service  which  Luther  rendered  in  repelling 
such  abuses  of  his  great  doctrine  was  only 
second  to  that  of  establishing  the  doctrine 
itself.  The  rule  of  faith  and  practice  on 
which  he  insisted  was,  indeed,  necessarily 
involved  in  his  primary  principle.  Faith,  as 
has  been  seen,  was  with  him  no  abstract 
quality,  but  was  simply  a  response  to  the  word 
and  promise  of  God.  That  Word,  accordingly, 
in  its  various  forms,  was  in  Luther's  mind  the 
creative  power  of  the  Christian  life.      In  the 


THE  CHURCH  AND  SCRIPTURE    195 

form  of  a  simple  promise,  it  is  the  basis  of 
justification  and  of  our  whole  spiritual  vitality  ; 
and   similarly   in   its    more    general   form,    as 
recorded  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  it  contains  all 
truths,  alike  of  belief  and  of  practice,  which 
are  essential   to  salvation  here  and  hereafter. 
The  word  of  God,  in  whatever  form,  whether 
a  simple  promise,  or  a  promise  embodied  in  a 
sacrament,  or  a  series  of  revelations  made  by 
God's  Spirit  to  the  soul  of  man,  as  recorded  in 
the    Bible,    is    the    grand    reality    which,    in 
Luther's  view,  dwarfed  all  other  realities  on 
earth.      It  must  needs  do  so,  if  it  be  a  reality 
at  all  ;  but  scarcely  any  one  has  grasped  this 
truth   with    such    intense    insight    as    Luther. 
Consequently,   in   his    view,    the   Anabaptist, 
who    held     himself    emancipated     from     the 
authority  of  God's  word  on  the  one  side,  was 
as  grievously  in  error  as  the  Romanist  on  the 
other,  who  superseded  its  authority  by  that  of 
the  Church  ;   and  in  applying  his  great  prin- 
ciple   and    working     out     the     Reformation, 
Luther's  task  consisted  in  upholding  the  due 
authority  of  the  Scriptures  against  the  extremes 
on  both  sides. 

Now    in    the    treatise     on     the    Babylonish 


196  THE  SACRAMENTS 

Captivity  of  the  Church  he  applies  this  rule,  in 
connection  with  his  main  principle,  to  the 
elaborate  sacramental  system  of  the  Church  of 
Rome.  Of  the  seven  sacraments  recognised 
by  that  Church,  he  recognises,  strictly  speaking, 
only  two  :  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  ; 
and  the  connection  of  this  conclusion  with  the 
central  truth  he  was  asserting  is  a  point  of 
deep  interest.  Here,  too,  the  one  consideration 
which,  in  his  view,  overpowers  every  other  is 
the  supreme  import  of  a  promise  or  word  of 
God.  But  there  are  two  institutions  under 
the  Gospel  which  are  distinguished  from  all 
others  by  a  visible  sign,  instituted  by  Christ 
Himself,  as  a  pledge  of  the  Divine  promise. 
A  sign  so  instituted,  and  with  such  a  purpose, 
constitutes  a  peculiarly  precious  form  of  those 
Divine  promises  which  are  the  life  of  the 
soul  ;  and,  for  the  same  reason  that  the  Divine 
word  and  the  Divine  promise  are  supreme  in 
all  other  instances,  so  must  these  be  supreme 
and  unique  among  ceremonies.  The  distinc- 
tion, by  which  the  two  sacraments  acknowledged 
by  the  Reformed  Churches  are  separated  from 
the  remaining  five  of  the  Roman  Church,  was 
thus  no  question  of  names,  but  of  things.      It 


THE  TWO  SACRAMENTS  197 

was  a  question  whether  a  ceremony  instituted 
by  Christ's  own  command,  and  embodying 
His  own  promise  in  a  visible  pledge,  could  for 
a  moment  be  put  on  the  same  level  with  cere- 
monies, however  edifying,  which  had  been 
established  solely  by  the  authority  or  custom 
of  the  Church.  It  was  of  the  essence  of 
Luther's  teaching  to  assert  a  paramount 
distinction  between  these  classes  of  ceremonies, 
and  to  elevate  the  two  Divine  pledges  of 
forgiveness  and  spiritual  life  to  a  height 
immeasurably  superior  to  all  other  institutions. 
He  hesitates,  indeed,  whether  to  allow  an 
exception  in  favour  of  absolution,  as  conveying 
undoubtedly  a  direct  promise  from  Christ ;  but 
he  finally  decides  against  it,  on  the  ground 
that  it  is  without  any  visible  and  Divinely 
appointed  sign,  and  is  after  all  only  an  appli- 
cation of  the  Sacrament  of  baptism. 

If,  moreover,  the  force  of  his  argument  on 
this  subject  is  to  be  apprehended,  due  attention 
must  be  paid  to  the  efficacy  which  he  thus 
attributes  to  the  two  sacraments.  The  cardinal 
point  on  which  he  insists  in  respect  to  them  is 
that  they  are  direct  pledges  from  God,  through 
Christ,   and  thus  contain  the   whole  virtue  of 


198  THE  TWO  SACRAMENTS 

the  most  solemn  Divine  promises.  They  are, 
as  it  were,  the  sign  and  seal  of  those  promises. 
They  are  messages  from  God,  not  mere  acts  of 
devotion  on  the  part  of  man.  In  baptism  the 
point  of  chief  importance  is  not  that  men  dedi- 
cate themselves  or  their  children  to  Him,  but 
that  He, through  His  minister,  gives  them  a  pro- 
mise and  a  pledge  of  His  forgiveness  and  of  His 
fatherly  goodwill.  Similarly  in  the  Holy  Com- 
munion the  most  important  point  is  not  the 
offering  made  on  the  part  of  man,  but  the 
promise  and  assurance  of  communion  with  the 
Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  made  on  the  part  of 
God.  It  is  this  which  constitutes  the  radical 
distinction  between  the  Lutheran  and  the  so- 
called  Zwinglian  view  of  the  sacraments.  Under 
the  latter  view  they  are  ceremonies  which 
embody  and  arouse  due  feelings  on  the  part  of 
men.  On  the  former  principle,  they  are  cere- 
monies which  embody  direct  messages  and 
promises  from  God. 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  observe  in  passing 
the  position  which  Luther  assumes  towards  the 
doctrine  of  Transubstantiation.  What  he  is 
concerned  to  maintain  is  that  there  is  a  real 
presence  in  the  Sacrament.    All  he  is  concerned 


TRANSUBSTANTI ATION  1 99 

to  deny  is  thattransubstantiation  is  the  necessary- 
explanation  of  that  presence.  In  other  words, 
it  is  not  necessary  to  believe  in  transubstan- 
tiation  in  order  to  believe  in  the  Real  Presence. 
There  seems  a  clear  distinction  betw^een  this 
view  and  the  formal  doctrine  of  consubstan- 
tiation  as  afterwards  elaborated  by  Lutheran 
divines  ;  and  Luther's  caution,  at  least  in  this 
treatise,  in  dealing  with  so  difficult  a  point,  is 
eminently  characteristic  of  the  real  moderation 
with  which  he  formed  his  views,  as  distin- 
guished from  the  energy  with  which  he  asserted 
them.  Another  interesting  point  in  this  treatise 
is  the  urgency  with  which  he  protests  against 
the  artificial  restraints  upon  the  freedom  of 
marriage  which  had  been  imposed  by  the 
Roman  see.  It  would  have  been  too  much  to 
expect  that  in  applying,  single-handed,  to  so 
difficult  a  subject  as  marriage,  the  rule  of  reject- 
ing every  restriction  not  expressly  declared  in 
the  Scriptures,  Luther  should  have  avoided 
mistakes.  But  they  are  at  least  insignificant 
in  comparison  with  the  value  of  the  principle 
he  asserted  that  all  questions  of  the  marriage 
relation  should  be  subjected  to  the  authority  of 
Holy  Scripture  alone.     That  principle  provid- 


200  MARRIAGE 

ed,  by  its  inherent  force,  a  remedy  for  any 
errors  in  particulars  which  Luther  or  any 
individual  divine  might  commit.  The  Roman 
principle,  on  the  contrary,  admitted  of  the  most 
scandalous  and  unlimited  elasticity  ;  and  of  all 
the  charges  brought  by  Roman  controversialists 
against  Luther's  conduct,  none  are  marked  by 
such  effrontery  as  their  accusations  on  this 
point.  While  there  are  fevsr  dispensations  wrhich 
their  Church  is  not  prepared,  for  what  it  con- 
siders due  causes,  to  allow,  Luther  recalled 
men's  consciences  to  the  Divine  law  on  the 
subject.  He  reasserted  the  true  dignity  and 
sanctity  of  the  marriage  relation,  and  estab- 
lished the  rule  of  Holy  Scripture  as  the  standard 
for  its  due  control. 

Such  are  the  main  truths  asserted  in  the 
treatises  here  reviewed,  and  it  is  but  recognis- 
ing a  historical  fact  to  designate  them  "  first] 
principles  of  the  Reformation.  "  From  them, 
and  by  means  of  them,  the  whole  of  the 
subsequent  movement  was  worked  out.  They 
were  applied  in  different  countries  in  different 
ways  ;  and  we  are  justly  proud  in  this  country 
of  the  wisdom  and  moderation  exhibited  by 
our   Reformers.       But   it    ought   never   to    be 


LUTHER'S  INITIATIVE  201 

forgotten  that  for  the  assertion  of  the  principles 
themselves  we,  like  the  rest  of  Europe,  are 
indebted  to  the  genius  and  the  courage  of 
Luther.  All  of  those  principles — -justification 
by  faith,  Christian  liberty,  the  spiritual  rights 
and  powers  of  the  laity,  the  true  character  of 
the  sacraments,  the  supremacy  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  as  the  standard  of  belief  and 
practice — were  asserted  by  the  Reformer,  as 
these  three  treatises  bear  testimony,  almost 
simultaneously,  in  the  latter  half  of  the  year 
1520.  At  the  time  he  asserted  them,  the 
Roman  Church  was  still  in  full  power  ;  and 
in  the  next  year  he  had  to  face  the  whole 
authority  of  the  papacy  and  of  the  empire,  and 
to  decide  whether,  at  the  risk  of  a  fate  like 
that  of  Huss,  he  would  stand  by  these  truths. 
These  were  the  truths — the  cardinal  principles 
of  the  whole  subsequent  Reformation — which 
he  was  called  on  to  abandon  at  Worms  ;  and 
his  refusal  to  act  against  his  conscience  at  once 
translated  them  into  vivid  action  and  reality. 
It  was  one  thing  for  Englishmen,  several 
decades  after  1520,  to  apply  these  principles 
with  the  wisdom  and  moderation  of  which  we 
are   proud  :    it  was   another   thing   to    be   the 


202  LUTHER  AND  LIBERTY 

Horatius  of  that  vital  struggle.  These  grand 
facts  speak  for  themselves,  and  need  only  to  be 
understood  in  order  to  justify  the  honours  now- 
paid  to  the  Reformer's  memory. 

It  may  not,  hov^ever,  be  out  of  place  to 
dwell  in  conclusion  upon  one  essential  charac- 
teristic of  the  Reformer's  position,  which  is  in 
danger  at  the  present  day  of  being  disregarded. 
The  general  effect  of  this  teaching  upon  the 
condition  of  the  world  is  evident.  It  restored 
to  the  people  at  large,  to  rulers  and  to  ruled, 
to  clergy  and  to  laity  alike,  complete  indepen- 
dence of  the  existing  ecclesiastical  system, 
within  the  limits  of  the  revelation  contained 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  In  a  word,  in 
Luther's  own  phrase,  it  estabhshed  Christian 
Liberty.  But  the  qualification  is  emphatic, 
and  it  would  be  to  misunderstand  Luther 
utterly  if  it  were  disregarded.  Attempts  are 
made  at  the  present  day  to  represent  him  as  a 
pioneer  of  absolute  liberty,  and  to  treat  it  as  a 
mere  accident  of  his  teaching  and  his  system 
that  he  stopped  short  where  he  did.  But,  on 
the  contrary,  the  limitation  is  of  the  very 
essence  of  his  teaching,  because  that  teaching 
is  based  on  the  supremacy  and  sufficiency  of 


CHRISTIAN  LIBERTY  203 

the  Divine  word  and  the  Divine  promise.  If 
there  were  no  such  word  and  promise,  no 
such  Divine  revelation,  and  no  living  God  to 
bring  it  home  to  men's  hearts  and  to  enforce 
His  own  laws,  Luther  felt  that  his  protest 
against  existing  authority,  usurped  and  tyran- 
nical as  it  might  be,  would  have  been  perilous 
in  the  extreme.  But  when  men  shrank  from 
the  boldness  of  his  proclamation,  and  urged 
that  he  was  overthrowing  the  foundations  of 
society,  his  reply  was  that  he  was  recalling 
them  to  the  true  foundations  of  society,  and 
that  God,  if  they  would  have  faith  in  Him, 
would  protect  His  own  word  and  will.  The 
very  essence  of  his  teaching  is  summed  up  in 
the  lines  of  his  great  Psalm, 

"  Das  Wort  sie  sollen  lassen  stahn 

Und  kein  Dank  dazu  haben, 
Er  ist  bei  uns  wohl  auf  dem  Plan 
Mit  seinem  Geist  und  Gaben. " 
Luther  believed  that  God  had  laid  down  the 
laws  which  were  essential  to  the  due  guidance 
of   human    nature,    that    He    had    prescribed 
sufficiently  the  limits  within  which  that  nature 
might  range,  and  had  indicated  the   trees  of 
which  it  could  not  safely  eat.     To  erect  any 


204  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

rules  beyond  these  as  of  general  obligation,  to 
restrict  the  free  play  of  nature  by  any  other 
limitations,  he  treated  as  an  unjust  violation  of 
liberty,  which  would  provoke  a  dangerous 
reaction.  But  let  men  be  brought  face  to  face 
with  God,  and  with  His  reasonable  and  merciful 
laws,  let  them  be  taught  that  He  is  their 
Father,  that  all  His  restrictions  are  for  their 
benefit,  all  His  punishments  for  their  reforma- 
tion, all  His  restraints  on  liberty  for  their 
ultimate  good,  and  you  have  then  established 
an  authority  which  cannot  be  shaken,  and  under 
which  human  nature  may  be  safely  left  to 
develop.  In  this  faith,  but  in  this  alone,  he 
let  loose  men's  natural  instincts  ;  he  taught 
men  that  married  life,  and  lay  life,  and  all 
lawful  occupations,  were  holy  and  Divine, 
provided  they  were  carried  on  in  faith  and  in 
obedience  to  God's  will.  The  result  was  a 
burst  of  new  life  wherever  the  Reformation 
was  adopted,  alike  in  national  energies,  in 
literature,  in  all  social  developments,  and  in 
natural  science.  But  while  we  prize  and 
celebrate  the  liberty  thus  won,  let  us  beware 
of  forgetting,  or  allowing  others  to  forget, 
that  it  is  essentially  a  Christian  liberty,  and 


CHRISTIAN  LIFE  205 

that  no  other  liberty  is  really  free.  Luther's 
whole  work,  and  his  whole  power,  lay  in  his 
recognition  of  our  personal  relation  to  God, 
and  of  a  direct  revelation,  promise,  and  com- 
mand, given  to  us  by  God.  Any  influences, 
under  whatever  colour,  which  tend  to  obscure 
the  reality  of  that  revelation,  which  would 
substitute  for  it  any  mere  natural  laws  or 
forces,  are  undoing  Luther's  work,  and  con- 
tradicting his  most  essential  principles.  If  he 
was  a  great  Reformer,  it  was  because  he  was 
a  great  divine  ;  if  he  was  a  friend  of  the 
people,  it  was  because  he  was  the  friend  of 
God. 


SOME  SPECIAL  POINTS  IN 
THE  REFORMATION  CONTROVERSY 


THE    GOSPEL    AND    THE    REMISSION    OF    SINS 

"  And  when  He  had  said  this  He  breathed  on  them, 
and  saith  unto  them,  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost  :  whosesoever 
sins  ye  remit,  they  are  remitted  unta  them  ;  and  whosesoever 
sins  ye  retain,  they  are  retained.  ^^ — St.  John  xx.  22,  23. 

Upon  the  interpretation  and  application  of 
these  words  depends  the  decision  between  two 
conceptions  of  the  office  of  the  Christian 
ministry  and  two  ideals  of  the  Christian  life. 
On  the  one  hand  they  have  been  so  interpreted 
as  to  apply  only  to  the  Apostles  and  their 
successors  in  the  ministry,  and  as  giving  them 
special  authority  to  convey  to  men  the  for- 
giveness of  their  sins  by  personal  absolution. 
It  is  held  by  those  who  maintain  this  view,  to 


FORGIVENESS  OF  SINS  207 

put  the  claim  at  the  lowest,  that,  although 
sins  may  be  and  are  forgiven  without  such 
personal  absolution,  yet  that,  if  men  and 
women  desire  to  be  assured  of  the  forgiveness 
of  their  sins,  the  ordinary  course,  and  the  best 
course,  for  them  to  take,  is  to  confess  them  to 
one  who  holds  a  commission  for  that  purpose 
derived  from  the  Apostles.  But  it  naturally 
follows  that,  if  forgiveness  is  to  be  conveyed 
by  this  personal  assurance,  the  priest  who  is  to 
pronounce  the  absolution  must  be  informed, 
by  confession,  of  the  nature  of  the  sins  of 
which  he  is  to  declare  the  forgiveness  ;  and 
thus  the  peace  of  mind  of  every  man  and 
woman  is  rendered  practically  dependent  upon 
continual  confession  of  all  sins  to  the  priest, 
and  the  reception  of  the  priest's  absolution. 

This  system,  of  course,  reaches  its  full 
development  in  the  Roman  Church,  which 
presents  the  most  complete  form  of  what  is 
described  as  the  sacerdotal  system,  the  system, 
that  is,  in  which  the  spiritual  welfare  of  men, 
for  time  and  for  eternity,  is  rendered  dependent 
in  the  main  on  a  priestly  order,  for  the  purpose 
of  absolution.  The  history  of  Europe  for  the 
centuries    which    immediately    preceded     the 


2o8  SACERDOTALISM 

Reformation  offers  the  fullest  illustration  of 
the  practical  working  of  such  a  system.  The 
key  to  that  history  is  that  men  were  under  an 
apprehension,  even  where  it  did  not  amount  to 
a  belief,  that  their  ultimate  welfare  and  salva- 
tion depended  in  some  manner  upon  the  autho- 
ritative action  of  the  Pope  and  the  clergy  ; 
and  they  could  not  therefore  make  up  their 
minds  to  act  in  defiance  of  them.  Europe 
was  groaning  under  acknowledged  evils,  not 
only  in  the  State  but  in  the  Church  ;  the  cry 
for  generations  had  been  for  reform  of  the 
Church  "  in  head  and  members  ;  "  Council 
after  Council  was  called  together  to  provide 
an  answer  to  that  cry  ;  but  whenever  the 
question  came  to  the  point  of  action,  when — 
if  anything  effectual  was  to  be  done — it  was 
necessary  to  override  the  authority  of  the 
Clergy,  the  strongest  laymen  and  the  ablest 
kings  were  checked,  in  the  presence  of  the 
mysterious  powers  which  the  Pope  and  his 
Clergy  might  be  supposed  to  possess  over  their 
spiritual  fate.  Numbers  of  men  might  in 
their  hearts  disbelieve  those  powers  ;  but,  to 
use  a  memorable  phrase,  they  felt  it  was  "  not 
so  certain  that  there  was  nothing  in  it,"  and 


LUTHER'S  EXPERIENCE  209 

they  could  not  face  all  that  might  be  meant 
by  a  papal  excommunication.  That  menace, 
moreover,  was  not  merely  that  of  a  general 
censure  and  denunciation  ;  but,  through  the 
power  of  absolution  believed  to  reside  in  every 
priest,  it  extended  to  the  daily  experience  of 
every  man  and  woman  ;  and  the  fear  of  passing 
out  of  this  world  without  that  absolution, 
without  the  last  Sacraments  of  the  Church, 
maintained  for  the  Church  and  the  clergy 
an  indefinable  supremacy  over  the  mass  of 
mankind. 

It  may  be  briefly  recalled  how  this  supremacy 
was  broken,  and  how  the  consciences  of  men 
were  emancipated.  It  was  in  the  first  instance 
brought  home  to  Luther,  from  his  experience 
as  a  parish  priest,  how  grievously  the  exercise 
of  this  priestly  power  of  absolution  obscured 
to  simple  souls  the  deep  gravity  of  sin,  and 
the  profound  nature  of  true  absolution.  He 
found  that  in  practice  it  operated,  to  a  grievous 
extent,  to  shelter  men  and  women  from  that 
direct  contact  with  God  Himself,  which  alone 
could  make  them  duly  sensible  of  the  depth  of 
their  evil  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the  profound 
and  blessed  nature  of  God's  forgiveness,  and 

14 


2IO  CONFESSION  TO  GOD 

God's   justification,    on    the     other.       Given, 
perhaps,  an  ideal  priest,  this  consequence  might 
be    avoided,    at    least    in   great   degree.      But 
taking  human  nature  as  it  is,  and  consequently 
taking   any   priesthood   as   it   must  be  on  the 
average,  the  temptation  is  to  grant  absolution 
too  lightly,  to  be  satisfied  with  imperfect  and 
formal  confessions,  and  thus  to  give  men  and 
women  a  sense  of  assurance  in  a  most  imperfect 
state  of  repentance,  and  to  let  them  rest  in  a 
peace  which  is  not  real  peace.     The  remedy 
was  found  in  directing  them  beyond  the  priest, 
to  the  great  Judge  to  Whom  it  was  the  office 
of  the   priest    to    bear   witness,  to    bid    them 
examine   their  consciences  as  in  His  sight,  to 
seek  for  the  help   of  His  Spirit  to  convince 
them  of  sin,  of  righteousness  and  of  judgment, 
to   induce  them  to   realize,   in  solemn  prayer 
and    self-examination,    the    operation    of   His 
penetrating  eye  and  His  strict  judgment  ;   and 
it  then  became  necessary  for  them  to  go  beyond 
the  priest  once  more,  for  the  assurance  of  God's 
forgiveness,  and  for  peace  to  their  consciences. 
If  the  Spirit  of  God   brought  home   to   their 
hearts  the  conviction  of  their  sin  and  evil,  that 
Spirit  also,  acting  through  the  word  of  Christ 


GOD'S  ABSOLUTION  211 

in  the  Scriptures  and  in  the  Sacraments,  could 
alone  bring  home  to  their  hearts  the  assurance 
of  God's  pardon  and  the  sense  of  His  sancti- 
fying grace.  But  the  moment  this  was 
realized,  that  deep  apprehension  of  the  power 
of  the  Church  and  the  clergy  over  the  unseen 
world  of  their  spirits  vanished  from  men's 
minds  like  a  bad  dream.  The  parts  of  Europe  . 
to  which  the  Gospel  of  the  Reformation 
spread  were  sensible  of  a  sudden  and  blessed 
emancipation.  The  Reformer's  appeal  to  "  the  ^ 
Christian  laity  of  the  German  nation  "  at  once  ' 
received  a  fearless  response.  Men  and  women 
dared  to  look  the  Pope  and  the  clergy  in  the 
face,  even  though  they  might  still  retain  the 
power  of  condemning  them  to  torture  and 
death  ;  and  the  Protestant  countries  of  Europe 
entered  on  a  career  of  freedom  and  fearless 
energy,  which  has  created  the  civilization,  the 
literature,  and  the  science  of  the  last  three 
centuries.  At  the  same  time  the  sense  of 
direct  responsibility  to  God  Himself,  the  more 
complete  realization  of  direct  communion  with 
Him,  the  abolition  of  the  notion  that  any 
human  power,  any  visible  human  authority, 
could  protect  men  from  His  direct  judgment. 


212  MANLINESS 

or  take  the  place  of  His  direct  guidance,  has 
had  the  effect  of  producing,  and  maintaining 
generally  in  Christian  life,  a  higher  individual 
standard  of  piety  and  morality  than  was 
generally  presented  in  the  period  before  the 
Reformation.  It  has  been  shown  by  experience 
on  the  largest  scale  that,  subject  to  the  excep- 
tions incidental  to  any  systems  and  principles, 
the  tendency  of  a  sacerdotal  system  is  at  once 
to  weaken  the  apprehension  of  sin,  and  to 
undermine  the  sense  of  individual  responsibi- 
lity, and  at  the  same  time  to  diminish  the 
faith  and  the  courage  which  are  called  for  in 
the  great  struggles  of  life.  As  the  late  Lord 
Salisbury  said  on  one  public  occasion,  the  effect 
of  the  general  system  of  Confession  is  to  under- 
mine the  virility  of  any  nation  which  submits 
to  it. 

What,  then,  is  the  true  construction  of  our 
text,  which  is  generally  relied  upon  in  justifi- 
cation of  the  system  in  question  .?  In  answer, 
let  it  first  be  clearly  realized  that,  as  is  pointed 
out  by  the  most  authoritative  commentators, 
the  commission  it  contains  was  not  addressed  to 
the  Apostles  only,  but  to  all  the  disciples  then 
assembled,   and  consequently  to  the  Church  as' 


THE  CHURCHES  COMMISSION      213 

a  body.  It  is  the  Saviour's  description  of  the 
office  of  His  Church  in  the  world.  He  gave 
it  a  commission  to  proclaim  to  all  the  world 
the  forgiveness  of  sins,  with  the  conditions  on 
which  sins  could  be  remitted.  He  promised 
the  Holy  Ghost,  at  once  to  teach  His  Ministers 
the  nature  and  the  means  of  that  remission  of 
sins,  and  to  enable  them  to  bring  these  truths 
home  to  the  hearts  of  those  whom  they  address- 
ed; and  He  assured  them,  in  this  solemn  and 
authoritative  form,  that  their  work,  in  thus 
remitting  the  sins  of  those  who  believed  their 
message,  would  be  ratified  in  heaven,  that 
whosesoever  sins  they  thus  remitted  were  remit- 
ted to  them,  and  whosesoever  sins  they  retained 
were  retained.  It  is  important  we  should  ever 
bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  our  Saviour,  again 
and  again  after  His  Resurrection,  insisted  on 
this  being  the  great  message  which  His  Church 
was  to  bring  to  the  world.  It  is  not  perhaps 
always  realized,  as  it  needs  to  be,  what  an 
extraordinary  promise  it  is,  and  what  authori- 
tative assurance  it  needs.  When  men  think  it 
difficult  to  believe  in  miracles,  it  is  strange  they 
should  find  it  easy  to  believe  in  the  forgiveness 
of  sins.      As  a  mere  matter  of  personal  feeling 


214        MIRACLE  OF  FORGIVENESS 

indeed,  that  forgiveness  may  not  be  so  difficult 
to  realize,  although  the  urgency  with  which 
our  Lord  insisted  on  the  duty  of  forgiveness  in 
this  sense,  embodying  the  necessity  of  it  in  His 
short  prayer,  may  indicate  that,  even  in  this 
simple  aspect,  it  is  not  so  easy  as  is  sometimes 
supposed.  But  forgiveness  in  the  full  sense  of 
the  word,  forgiveness  in  the  sense  in  which  it 
is  most  precious  to  us,  forgiveness  in  the  sense 
of  the  blotting  out  of  what  is  past,  the  undoing 
the  daily  wrongs  that  have  been  done,  forgive- 
ness in  the  sense  of  justification,  forgiveness 
in  the  sense  which  renders  possible  the  obliter- 
ation of  an  evil  past  and  the  renewal  of  the 
soul  by  regeneration,  this  is  nothing  less  than 
a  miracle,  a  supernatural  operation,  which  none 
but  a  Divine  Hand  can  eff'ect.  The  question 
was  profoundly  just  which  the  Pharisees  raised, 
"  Who  can  forgive  sins  but  God  only  ?  '*  But, 
if  so,  then  nothing  but  an  express  Divine 
authority  can  enable  us  to  believe  in  the  for- 
giveness of  sins,  the  forgiveness  of  our  own  sins, 
the  forgiveness  of  the  sins  of  all  who  accept  the 
grace  which  the  Saviour  offers.  Accordingly, 
in  passage  after  passage,  our  Saviour  assures  His 
Apostles  and  His  disciples  of  this  supreme  and 


THE  DIVINE  PROMISE  215 

supernatural  blessing  ;  for  this  reason  He  cou- 
ples the  assurance  of  it  with  the  promise  of  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  bring  it  home  to 
the  hearts  of  those  who  proclaim  it,  and  of 
those  to  whom  it  is  proclaimed.  For  this 
reason  He  speaks  of  it  so  often  after  His  rising 
from  the  dead,  as  though  it  were  the  ultimate 
result  of  His  death  and  of  His  Resurrection, 
and  thus  concentrates  upon  it  the  thoughts  of 
His  Apostles.  When  He  finally  "  opened 
their  understanding,  that  they  might  understand 
the  Scriptures,  He  said  unto  them.  Thus  it  is 
written,  and  thus  it  behoved  Christ  to  suffer, 
and  to  rise  from  the  dead  the  third  day  :  and 
that  repentance  and  remission  of  sins  should  be 
preached  in  His  Name  among  all  nations, 
beginning  at  Jerusalem.  And  ye  are  witnesses 
of  these  things.  " 

Accordingly  we  find  that,  from  the  very 
first,  it  was  upon  this  great  promise  that  the 
preaching  of  the  Apostles  was  concentrated. 
When,  after  St.  Peter's  first  sermon,  the  Jews 
were  pricked  in  their  hearts  and  said  unto  Peter 
and  the  rest  of  the  Apostles.  "  Men  and  brethren, 
what  shall  we  do  "  ?  then  Peter  said  unto  them, 
"  Repent,  and  be  baptised  every  one  of  you  in 


2i6      JUDGMENT  AND  REMISSION 

the  Name  of  Jesus  Christ  for  the  remission  of 
sins,  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  "  In  his  address  to  Cornelius,  he  sum- 
med up  the  message  with  which  he  was  com- 
missioned in  two  things — the  proclamation  of 
judgment  and  the  promise  of  remission.  "  He 
commanded  us  to  preach  unto  the  people  and 
to  testify  that  it  is  He  which  was  ordained  of 
God  to  be  the  Judge  of  quick  and  dead.  To 
Him  give  all  the  prophets  witness,  that  through 
His  Name  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  shall 
receive  remission  of  sins.  "  The  same  is  the 
conclusion  of  St.  Paul's  first  sermon.  "  Be  it 
known  unto  you  therefore,  men  and  brethren, 
that  through  this  Man  is  preached  unto  you 
the  forgiveness  of  sins  :  and  by  Him  all  that 
believe  are  justified  from  all  things,  from  which 
ye  could  not  be  justified  by  the  law  of  Moses." 
That,  according  to  the  Apostles,  is  the  central 
point,  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  Gospel — 
not  philosophical  theories  about  God,  not  the 
creation  of  social  Utopias,  not  temporal  benefits 
— except  so  far  as  they  are  the  natural  conse- 
quences of  spiritual  blessings — but  first  and 
above  all  the  conviction  of  sin,  and  next  the 
conviction  and  the  faith  of  forgiveness.  "  Re- 


THE  PRIEST'S  COMMISSION        217 

pentance  and  remission  of  sins.  "  It  is  well 
known  that  the  introduction  of  the  words  of 
this  text  into  the  commission  given  to  a 
Priest  at  his  ordination  is  not  of  primitive 
origin,  and  their  use  for  the  purpose  is  open  to 
misinterpretation.  But  they  cannot  be  taken 
to  mean  anything  more  than,  or  anything 
different  from,  that  which  they  mean  in  the 
Gospel,  anything  different  from  that  which  our 
Saviour  intended  by  them  ;  and  if  understood 
in  this  sense,  if  understood  as  reminding  the 
priest  over  whom  they  are  pronounced  that  his 
great  work  is  to  convince  men  of  sin,  of  right- 
eousness, and  of  judgment,  to  proclaim  repent- 
ance and  remission  of  sins  to  all  people  com- 
mitted to  his  charge — that  this  is  the  commis- 
sion of  Christ  to  His  Church,  of  which  he  in 
his  turn  is  a  commissioned  Minister — they  may 
then  be  a  fitting  summary  of  the  duties  of  his 
ofKce. 

Unhappily  in  the  present  day  there  is  an 
earnest  and  systematic  attempt  to  revive  in 
the  English  Church  that  sacerdotal  conception 
of  the  function  of  the  Church  and  of  the 
duties  of  the  priesthood,  which  I  commenced 
by  recalling.      It  may  not  be  so  strongly  and 


2i8  CONFESSIONAL  REVIVED 

authoritatively  formulated  as  it  is  in  the 
Roman  Church  ;  those  who  promote  it  may 
be  formally  justified  in  declaring  that  they 
are  not  introducing  the  Roman  system.  But 
when  Clergymen  urge  people  to  confession  by 
all  the  moral  influence  in  their  power,  when 
they  teach,  as  is  now  openly  done  in  the  reli- 
gious Press,  that  a  peace  of  mind  is  attainable 
by  confession  and  priestly  absolution  which  is 
not  attainable  otherwise,  when  we  find  an 
experienced  and  unprejudiced  observer  like  the 
Bishop  of  St.  Albans  saying,  as  he  recently  did 
in  his  Charge,  that  it  occasions  him  uneasi- 
ness to  find  that  in  many  cases  confession  is 
regarded  as  almost  necessary  for  the  highest 
form  of  spiritual  life — when  this  is  the  case,  it 
is  too  evident  that  the  principle  and  the  method 
of  Sacerdotalism  have  acquired  a  strong  hold 
in  our  Church,  and  that  the  time  has  come 
when  it  must  be  both  vigorously  and  openly 
resisted  by  those  who  believe  that  it  is  incon- 
sistent with  the  highest  form  of  Christian  truth 
and  Christian  life,  and  is  fatal  in  the  long  run 
to  the  welfare  of  either  a  Church  or  a  nation. 
It  remains  true  that  the  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith,   of  absolute  faith  in  God  and  God's 


THE  PRAYER  BOOK  RULE         219 

Word,  as  alone  sufficient  for  the  salvation,  for 
the  daily  health  and  the  ultimate  safety  of  the 
soul,  is  the  attribute  of  a  standing  or  a  falling 
Christianity  ;  and  that  if  we  would  maintain 
the  pure  and  primitive  character  of  our  Church 
and  the  virility  of  our  nation,  the  practice  of 
private  Confession  and  Absolution  must  be 
reduced,  as  our  Prayer-Book  reduces  it,  to  the 
position  of  an  exceptional  practice,  not  to  be 
encouraged,  but  to  be  superseded  by  a  larger 
and  firmer  and  more  direct  faith  in  the  Saviour. 
The  temptations  to  adopt  the  other  system  are, 
indeed,  deeply  rooted  in  human  nature  ;  the 
system  has  an  attraction  for  some  forms  of 
spiritual  weakness  :  and  to  some  men  of  earnest 
spiritual  character  among  the  Clergy  it  presents 
an  ideal  of  guidance  and  direction  which  has  a 
strange  and  dangerous  fascination.  But  it  has 
never  stood  the  test  of  time  ;  there  is  no  trace 
of  it  in  the  practice  of  the  Apostles  or  in  the 
teaching  of  the  New  Testament  ;  it  has  no 
example  in  those  primitive  ages  when  the  faith 
and  the  practice  of  the  Church  were  purest, 
and  when  her  saints  were  most  saintly  ;  and  it 
is  the  glory  of  our  Church  to  have  reverted, 
as  the  general  characteristic  of  her  system,  to 


220  SENSE  OF  SIN 

those  Scriptural  and  primitive  ideals,  and  thus 
to  encourage  her  children  to  come  boldly  to 
the  Throne  of  Grace  itself,  and  to  kneel  at  the 
feet  of  the  One  great  High  Priest,  "  that  we 
may  obtain  mercy  and  find  grace  to  help  in 
time  of  need. " 

But  let  it  ever  be  remembered  that  it  is 
only  by  leading  men  and  women  to  that  High 
Priest  that  we  can  enable  them  to  dispense 
with  the  secondary  priestly  aid  which  is  so 
earnestly  pressed  upon  them.  It  is  only  by 
keeping  Christ,  and  the  words  of  Christ,  and 
the  comfort  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  before  the 
minds  of  our  people  that  we  can  meet  their 
daily  needs,  and  enable  them  to  live  in  the 
sense  of  peace  with  God.  In  the  hearts  of 
the  great  majority  of  men  and  women  there  is 
one  aching  pain  and  one  yearning  need — the 
pain  of  a  sense  of  sin,  of  things  undone  which 
should  have  been  done,  and  of  things  done 
which  should  not  have  been  done,  and  a 
craving  for  the  forgiveness  of  those  sins,  and 
for  deliverance  and  purification  from  them. 
The  reason  why  the  Apostles  directed  all  their 
exhortations,  no  matter  whom  they  addressed, 
to  the  proclamation  of  repentance  and  remission 


THE  UNIVERSAL  CRAVING         221 

of  sins,  was  because  this  is  the  one  universal 
craving  of  humanity.  It  has  been  observed 
by  Professor  Monier  WilHams  that  all  the 
religions  of  the  East,  and  all  their  supersti- 
tions, arise  from  a  sense  of  sin  and  a  craving 
for  deliverance  from  it.  Part  of  the  v^ork  of 
the  ministry,  the  beginning  of  it,  is  to  deepen 
and  maintain  that  sense  of  sin  and  of  repen- 
tance ;  and  the  craving  for  forgiveness  and 
guidance  thus  aroused  must  needs  be  satisfied 
in  one  way  or  another.  If  not  in  the  right 
way,  it  will  be  satisfied  in  the  wrong  ;  if  not 
by  direct  communion  with  Christ  and  the 
Holy  Spirit,  then  by  weak  human  substitutes, 
and  by  mortal  and  fallible  priests.  But  it  is 
the  glory  of  the  Ministry,  as  the  witness  to  the 
great  Evangelical  truths  of  our  faith,  to  point 
men  and  women  to  Christ  Himself,  to  enable 
them  to  rely  on  His  words  and  assurances, 
and  to  trust  His  Spirit.  That  can  only  be 
done  by  the  full  and  free  preaching  of  His 
Word,  by  throwing  our  whole  energies  into 
the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  and  by  so  entering 
into  their  message  and  their  spirit  ourselves, 
as  to  be  able  to  impress  it  on  the  hearts  of 
our  people.      In   proportion  as  the  Clergy  do 


222  THE  HOLY  COMMUNION 

that  will  they  fulfil  the  commission  of  this 
text,  and  shall  we  help  to  maintain  in  our 
Church  and  in  our  nation  that  true  sense  of 
sin,  and  that  manly  and  womanly  faith  in 
Christ's  forgiveness  and  redemption,  which 
were  won  back  for  us  at  such  a  price  at  the 
Reformation. 


II 

THE  SACRIFICIAL  ASPECT  OF  THE   HOLY  COMMUNION 

It  may,  I  think,  be  observed  with  thankful- 
ness that,  during  recent  discussions,  much 
approach  has  been  made  towards  agreement 
between  authorities  in  the  various  Schools  of 
thought  in  the  Church.  In  the  Fulham  Con- 
ference, a  statement  of  the  late  Mr.  Dimock  on 
the  subject,  somewhat  amended  in  discussion, 
received  the  assent  of  all  Members  of  the 
Conference,  except  in  respect  to  four  words. 
That  statement  was  that,  "  as  one  aspect  of 
the  ordinance,  there  may  be  truly  said  to  be  a 
submitting  to  the  Divine  view  of  the  Sacrifice 
of  the  Death  of  Christ  [in  representation,  not 
rf-presentation],  not  as  making,  but  as  having 


SACRIFICIAL  ASPECT  223 

made  once  for  all,  the  perfect  propitiation  for 
the  sins  of  the  world."  The  four  words  in 
this  statement  which  were  not  accepted,  and 
which  in  fact  were  not  practically  discussed, 
are  the  bracketed  words  "  in  representation, 
not  i?6'-presentation."  But  some  subsequent 
statements  by  Canon  Gore,  in  his  book  entitled 
"  The  Body  of  Christ,'*  would  seem  to  show 
that  he  is  substantially  in  harmony  with  Mr. 
Dimock  on  the  point  involved  in  those  words. 
Thus  he  says,  on  p.  175,  "  We  have  thus  a 
solemn  commemoration  before  God  of  the 
sacrificial  death  of  Christ.  But  the  death,  or 
the  humiliation  which  belongs  to  the  death,  is 
commemorated  only,  not  renewed  or  repeated. 
When  the  Fathers  speak  of  an  '  immolation  ' 
—  i.e.  a  fresh  sacrificing  of  Christ  in  the 
Eucharist,  they  are  referring  only  to  the  sym- 
bolism of  the  sacrament,  not  to  its  inward 
reality  ;  and  this,  in  the  language  of  the  Church 
taken  as  a  whole,  is  quite  unmistakable,  and 
continues  to  be  so  as  late  as  the  theology  of 
St.  Thomas  Aquinas."  In  illustration.  Canon 
Gore  quotes  these  statements  from  St.  Thomas 
Aquinas  :  "  It  is  called  a  sacrifice  with  refer- 
ence to  what   is   past,  inasmuch  as   it  is   com- 


224  NOT  PROPITIATORY 

memorative  of  the  Lord's  Passion,  which  was 
the  true  Sacrifice  ; "  and  again,  "  It  is  a  repre- 
sentative image  of  Christ's  Passion,  as  the  altar 
represents  the  Cross  on  which  he  was  immo- 
lated." We  have,  therefore,  the  admission,  on 
the  part  of  the  most  learned  member  of  the 
Evangelical  School,  that  one  aspect  of  the 
Eucharist  is  that  of  a  representation,  to  the 
Divine  view,  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  death  of 
Christ,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  a  clear  statement, 
by  so  learned  and  able  a  member  of  the  opposite 
School  as  Canon  Gore,  that  the  representation 
of  our  Lord's  sacrifice  in  the  Eucharist  is  not 
a  r^'-presentation.  In  other  words,  these  two 
representative  Divines  agree  in  the  statement 
of  St.  Chrysostom,  quoted  by  Canon  Gore, 
that  "  we  off^er,  but  as  making  for  ourselves  a 

memorial  of  His  Death We  make  always 

the  same  sacrifice,  or  rather  we  effect  a  me- 
morial of  the  Sacrifice." 

We  may  also  welcome  thankfully  some 
further  observations  of  Bishop  Gore,  in  which 
he  says  (p.  176),  that  "  the  Eucharist  is  not  in 
the  stricter  sense  of  the  term  propitiatory.  It 
is  certainly  in  accordance  with  the  language  of 
the  New  Testament   to  reserve  this  term  for 


THE  ONE  SACRIFICE  225 

the  initial  act  by  which  Christ  gave  humanity 
a  new  standing  before  God,  and  opened  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  to  all  believers."  He 
observes  that  Bishop  Jeremy  Taylor  allows 
that  the  Eucharist  "  is  ministerially,  by  appli- 
cation, an  instrument  propitiatory  ;  "  and  says 
that  "  the  use  of  the  word  propitiatory  of  the 
Eucharist,  or  the  refusal  to  use  it,  may  thus  be 
said  to  be  a  mere  matter  of  language."  But 
Bishop  Gore  adds  that  "  there  are  deep  reasons 
of  religion,  as  well  as  Scriptural  authority,  to 
move  us  to  restrict  its  application  ;  and  of 
course  still  deeper  reasons  for  guarding  the 
truth,  which  the  restriction  expresses,  of  the 
uniqueness  and  all-sufficiency  of  the  sacrifice  of 
Calvary." 

We  cannot,  I  think,  but  thankfully  recognise 
that  these  various  statements  mark  a  considerable 
degree  of  approximation — it  might  even  be 
said,  of  practical  agreement,  between  Mr. 
Dimock  and  Bishop  Gore,  as  to  the  view  to 
be  taken  of  the  Eucharist  as  a  commemoration 
and  representation  of  the  Sacrifice  of  our  Lord. 
But  another  important  statement,  in  the  same 
direction,  has  been  made  by  a  conspicuous 
representative   of  the    High  Church  view  on 

15 


226  AN  OLD  DOCTRINE 

this  subject — The  late  Professor  Moberly,  of 
Christ  Church.  He  pubhshed  an  interesting 
and  important  article  on  the  Fulham  Con- 
ference in  the  yournal  of  Theological  Studies, 
In  the  outset  of  that  article  (p.  322)  he  says 
he  desires  "  to  acknowledge  from  the  begin- 
ning that  the  position  which  is  thus  cardinal 
to  modern  Evangelical  theology" — as  main- 
tained at  the  Conference — "  is  in  its  origin 
neither  new  nor  partisan.  A  doctrine/'  he 
says,  "  strenuously  maintained  as  cardinal  to 
Eucharistic  truth  by  Archdeacon  Freeman  and 
by  Canon  Trevor,  based  by  both  upon  emphatic 
words  of  Bishop  Andrewes,  and  by  Canon 
Trevor  upon  a  long  catena  of  passages  from 
distinctive  and  distinguished  Anglican  Divines, 
is  no  device  of  modern  '  Low  Churchmanship.* 
It  has  a  long  history  and  many-sided  support. 
It  is  no  more  partisan  than  it  is  new."  These 
are  handsome  acknowledgments,  and  in  the 
interesting  discussion  which  follows,  Professor 
Moberly  goes  still  further  in  his  acceptance  of 
the  Evangelical  position  as  stated  at  the  Con- 
ference. Thus  he  says  (p.  334)  "  with  much 
of  the  Evangelical  meaning  I  can  heartily 
concur.       When    Dr.    Wace  says  that    '  The 


EVANGELICAL  DOCTRINE  227 

Holy  Communion  is  a  commemoration,  as  well 
on  the  part  of  God,  by  whom  it  was  instituted, 
as  on  the  part  of  man,  of  the  one-sufficient 
sacrifice  off^ered  by  our  Lord  on  the  Cross,  and 
a  visible  means  for  assuring  and  conveying  to 
us  the  benefits  of  that  Sacrifice,'  I  could  accept 
his  saying,  not  indeed  without  some  added 
explanation,  but  without  the  alteration  of  a 
word.  When  Mr.  Dimock  urges  the  extreme 
importance  of  '  bearing  witness  to  the  truth, 
that  for  outcast,  lost  sinners,  there  was  no 
access  to  life  in  Communion  with  God,  save 
by  the  reconciliation  which  we  have  by  the 
death  of  His  Son — no  way  of  entering  into 
fellowship  with  the  resurrection  life  of  Christ 
except  by  being  made  partakers  of  His  Body 
and  Blood,  as  sacrificed  for  the  remission  of 
sins,'  I  am,  so  far  as  those  words  go,  with  him 
entirely.  Even  when  Dr.  Moule  urges  that  it 
is  '  involved  in  the  terms  of  institution  that 
our  Lord  put  forward  His  Body  and  Blood  as 
sacrificed — the  Body  as  dead,  and  the  Blood  as 
shed — to  be  participated  in  as  a  sacrifice,'  I 
could  still  adopt  the  words,  if  only  I  may  put 
my  own  interpretation  on  Mead  ;'  making  it 
clear  that  I  mean  the  Body  which  died  and  is 


228  BISHOP  ANDREWS 

not  dead,  not  the  body  in  a  state  of  death  ;  and 
again,  that  by  the  '  Blood  as  shed, '  I  mean  really 
the  shed  Blood,  not  the  blood  as  now  in  a  state 
of  separation  from  the  Body. " 

Upon  a  general  review  of  these  statements, 
we  seem  to  come  to  this  result — that  the 
view  of  the  relation  of  the  Eucharist  to  the 
sacrifice  of  our  Lord,  maintained  by  such 
Evangelical  representatives  as  Mr.  Dimock 
and  Bishop  Moule,  is  acknowledged  to  be 
that  of  so  representative  an  Anglican  Divine 
as  Bishop  Andrews,  and  that  Dr.  Moberly 
himself  admits  the  truth  of  the  modern  Evan- 
gelical statement  of  it,  subject  to  the  qualification 
— no  doubt  an  important  one — that  the  Eucha- 
rist refers  to  the  Body  and  Blood  of  our  Lord, 
not  as  in  the  state  of  death  upon  the  cross, 
but  in  their  present  glorified  condition.  But 
it  may  be  observed  that  this  point  of  difference, 
though  a  grave  one,  does  not  aff^ect  the  main 
point  of  agreement  now  in  question.  Dr. 
Moberly  seems  to  adopt  the  view  that  our 
Lord's  Body  and  Blood,  as  represented  in  the 
Eucharist,  are  representative  of  His  Body  and 
Blood  as  now  represented  or  exhibited  by  Him 
in  Heaven.      He  maintains  that  the  essence  of 


BISHOP  WESTCOTT  229 

the  Sacrifice  lies  in  that  present  exhibition, 
and  as  it  were  sprinkling,  of  the  Blood  of 
Christ  in  Heaven.  But  he  acknowledges  most 
fully  (p.  332),  "that  the  Eucharist  immediately 
connects  us  with  the  Atoning  Sacrifice  of  Christy 
with  the  Blood  of  Atonement,  with  the  body 
that  died.  ...  I  would  say,  ''  he  adds,  "  as 
strongly  as  Dr.  Moule,  or  Mr.  Dimock,  or 
Dr.  Wace  could  say  it,  that  it  is  with  nothing 
so  much  as  the  sacrifice  as  sacrifice,  the  atone- 
ment as  atonement,  that  the  Eucharist  was 
ordained  to  associate  us.  '*  It  is  not  practicable, 
in  this  Paper,  to  discuss  adequately  the  distinc- 
tive view  which  Dr.  ^Moberly  thus  puts 
forward  ;  and  it  will  be  enough,  for  our 
immediate  purpose,  to  quote  an  observation  of 
Bishop  Westcott,  in  his  commentary  on  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  (p.  230),  where  he 
says  that  "  The  modern  conception  of  Christ 
pleading  in  Heaven  His  Passion,  '  offering  His 
Blood,'  on  behalf  of  men,  has  no  foundation 
in  the  Epistle.  His  glorified  humanity  is  the 
eternal  pledge  of  the  absolute  efficiency  of  His 
accomplished  work.  He  pleads,  as  other 
writers  truly  expressed  the  thought,  by  His 
presence  on  His  Father's  throne.      Meanwhile 


230         SUBSTANTIAL  AGREEMENT 

men  on  earth  in  union  with  Him  enjoy  con- 
tinually through  His  Blood  what  was  before  the 
privilege  of  one  man  on  one  day  in  the  year.  '' 
This,: however,  for  the  purpose  of  the  point  of 
view  to  which  this  Paper  is  to  be  addressed, 
appears  to  be  a  side  issue.  It  is  a  difference 
as  to  the  manner  in  which,  in  the  Eucharist, 
we  are  made  partakers  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ. 
But  there  is  a  substantial,  if  not  an  entire, 
agreement  between  Dr.  Moberly,  Bishop  Gore 
and  Evangelical  Divines,  as  to  the  momentous 
fact,  that  the  Eucharist  is  an  appointed  means 
for  participation  in  the  Sacrifice  of  Christ. 
It  is  agreed,  on  both  sides,  that  by  partaking 
of  the  Consecrated  Elements,  we  are  brought 
into  union  and  communion  with  the  Lamb  as 
slain.  Dr.  Moberly  only  objects  to  saying, 
with  Bishop  Andrews,  "  the  Lamb  as  dead '' ; 
but  he  fully  recognises  that  we  are  brought 
into  communion  with  the  Lamb  as  slain. 
Comparing  the  two  views,  it  seems  striking  to 
reflect  that  the  connexion  of  the  Eucharist 
with  the  Sacrifice  of  Christ  is  more  thoroughly 
represented  by  the  Evangelical  view  than  by 
that  of  Dr.  Moberly  and  his  School.  In  the 
teaching  of  Bishop  Andrews  and  Dr.  Moule, 


SACRIFICE  AND  FEAST  231 

it  is  with  Christ,  in  His  actual  propitiatory 
Sacrifice  on  the  Cross,  that  we  are  brought 
into  communion  in  the  Eucharist.  In  the 
other  view,  it  is  rather  with  the  application  of 
that  Sacrifice  in  Heaven  that  our  Communion 
is  maintained.  Still,  in  either  case,  the  Eucha- 
rist is  not  a  bare  commemoration  of  the 
Sacrifice.  It  makes  us  in  a  special  manner 
partakers  of  it,  and  we  renew  and  deepen  our 
relation  to  it  in  every  act  of  reception. 

We  seem  after  all,  then,  to  be  brought  back 
by  these  discussions  to  the  view  so  clearly 
explained  by  Cudworth,  and  supported  by 
Waterland,  that  "  the  true  notion  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  "  is  that  of  a  feast  upon  a  sacrifice. 
Cudworth's  admirable  learning  has  anticipated, 
in  substance,  much  of  what  is  put  forward  by 
Bishop  Gore  as  the  result  of  recent  investigation 
into  the  meaning  of  sacrificial  rites  and  sacrifi- 
cial banquets,  not  only  among  Semitic  races, 
but  among  Pagans  generally.  A  Sacrifice,  and 
a  feast  upon  a  Sacrifice,  were  almost  universally 
associated.  As  Cudworth  states,  "  having  thus 
shown  that  both  among  the  Jews  under  the 
law,  and  the  Gentiles  in  their  Pagan  worship.  .  . 
it  was  ever  a  solemn  rite  to  join  feasting  with 


232  A  SACRIFICIAL  FEAST 

sacrificing,  and  to  EAT  oi  those  things  that 
had  been  offered  up,  the  very  continuity  and 
harmony  of  the  thing  itself  leads  me  to  con- 
ceive, that  that  Christian  Feast  under  the 
Gospel,  called  the  Lord's  Supper,  is  the  very 
same  thing,  and  bears  the  same  notion,  in 
respect  of  the  true  Christian  Sacrifice  of  Christ 
upon  the  Cross,  that  those  did  to  the  Jewish 
and  Heathenish  sacrifices,  and  so  is  Epulufn 
Sacrificiale ^  a  Sacrificial  Feast  ;  I  mean  a  Feast 
upon  Sacrifices  ;  or  Epulum  ex  oblatis^  a  Feast 
upon  things  offered  up  to  God,  only  this 
difference  arising  in  the  parallel,  that  because 
those  Legal  Sacrifices  were  but  Types  and 
Shadows  of  the  true  Christian  Sacrifice,  they 
were  often  repeated  and  renewed,  as  well  as 
the  Feasts  that  were  made  upon  them.  But 
now  the  true  Christian  Sacrifice  being  come, 
and  offered  up  once  for  all,  never  to  be 
repeated,  we  have  therefore  no  more  Typical 
Sacrifices  left  amongst  us,  but  only  the  Feasts 
upon  the  true  Sacrifice  still  symbolically  conti- 
nued, and  often  repeated,  in  reference  to  that 
One  Great  Sacrifice,  which  is  always  as 
present  in  God's  sight  and  as  efficacious  as  if 
it  were  but  now  offered  up  for  us.  " 


THE  PASCHAL  LAMB  233 

It  would  seem  difficult  to  improve  upon 
this  statement  of  the  true  notion  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  Cudworth,  in  fact,  was  right  in 
seeing  that  the  true  point  of  departure,  for  a 
consideration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  is  to  be 
taken  from  the  Paschal  meal,  which  our  Savi- 
our was  sharing  with  his  disciples.  In  that 
meal,  the  body  of  the  Lamb  was  eaten,  as  a 
means  and  an  assurance  to  the  Israelite  of  his 
participation  in  the  deliverance  and  the  cove- 
nant which  ensued  upon  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Lamb.  The  immediate  connexion  of  our 
Lord's  words  is  with  the  Lamb  so  sacrificed 
and  eaten.  He  says,  in  effisct,  to  His  disciples, 
with  the  plainest  allusion  to  the  meal  of 
which  they  had  been  partaking,  "  I  am 
the  Passover  which  is  about  to  be  sacrificed 
for  you  ;  and  this  bread  shall  be  to  you,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  my  Body  ;  and  this  wine 
shall  be,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  the  blood 
of  the  New  Covenant  ;  and  by  partaking  of 
that  bread  and  drinking  of  that  wine,  you  shall 
enjoy  participation  in  the  benefits  of  the  Sacri- 
fice I  am  about  to  off^er."  Consequently,  in 
the  view  intimated  by  what  Dr.  Moberly  has 
called  Bishop  Andrews'    "  biting   phrase,"  ad 


234      SACRIFICE  AND  COMMUNION 

cadaver^  and  in  Dr.  Moule's  statement,  that 
"  the  occasion,  the  action,  the  full  words  of 
the  institution,  all  define  the  Sacred  Body,  in 
our  Lord's  thought,  to  be  the  Body  as  in 
death  ;  "  there  is  not,  as  Bishop  Gore  and 
Dr.  Moberly  seem  to  suppose,  any  such 
strange  idea  as  that  by  "  a  new  and  unnecessary 
miracle ''  (p.  3  2  3 ,  journal  of  Theological  Studies^ 
"  there  is  postulated  in  the  Eucharist  some  real 
presence  of  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ  as 
they  were  when  he  was  dying  or  dead  upon 
the  Cross"  (The  Body  of  Christ,  p.  181-2). 
The  simple  idea  is  that,  by  virtue  of  our 
Saviour's  institution,  the  consecrated  bread  and 
the  consecrated  wine  are  the  means  of  enabling 
us  "  so  to  eat  the  flesh  of  Christ  and  to  drink 
His  blood,  that  our  sinful  bodies  may  be  made 
clean  by  His  body,  and  our  souls  washed 
through  His  most  precious  blood,  and  that  we 
may  evermore  dwell  in  Him  and  He  in  us." 

It  is  in  this  sense,  of  being  a  Feast  on  the  one 
Eternal  Sacrifice,  that  the  Holy  Communion 
commemorates  that  sacrifice  ;  and  this  consi- 
deration, as  is  pointed  out  by  Bishop  Gore,  in 
a  manner  for  which  the  Church  has  reason  to 
be  grateful  to  him,  is  the  true  safeguard  against 


SACRIFICE  AND  COMMUNION     235 

the  mischievous  practice  of  separating  the 
commemoration  of  the  Sacrifice  from  the  act 
of  Communion.  It  tends,  in  his  words,  to 
keep  "  in  clear  view  that  our  real  fellowship 
in  the  Sacrifice  of  Christ  is  only  maintained  by 
Communion."  (p.  197).  But  at  the  same 
time,  it  brings  before  us  in  the  most  profound 
and  touching  manner,  and  represents  before 
God  with  the  deepest  solemnity,  how,  "of  His 
tender  mercy  He  gave  His  only  Son,  Jesus 
Christ,  to  suffer  death  upon  the  Cross,  for  our 
redemption,"  and  how  our  Lord  "  made  there, 
by  His  one  oblation  of  Himself  once  offered, 
a  full,  perfect  and  sufHcient  sacrifice,  oblation 
and  satisfaction,  for  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world."  I  would  only  add,  that  the  sense  thus 
brought  home  to  us,  by  participation  of  the 
symbols  of  the  Saviour's  Body  and  Blood,  of 
the  Sacrifice  which  he  made  for  us  is  the  most 
effectual  means  of  evoking,  on  our  part,  that 
sacrifice  of  "  ourselves,  our  souls  and  bodies," 
which  our  Church  teaches  us  to  make  im- 
mediately after  our  participation  in  the  Savi- 
our's Sacrifice.  In  this  aspect — to  which  on 
the  present  occasion  only  a  brief  reference  can 
be  made,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  sacrificial 


236  SACRIFICIAL  CHARACTER 

character  of  the  Eucharist.  We  are  taught 
by  our  Church,  in  response  to  the  Saviour's 
Sacrifice,  first  to  desire  God's  fatherly  goodness, 
"  mercifully  to  accept  this  our  sacrifice  of 
praise  and  thanksgiving,"  and  finally  to  "  offer 
and  present  unto  Him  ourselves,  our  souls  and 
bodies  to  be  a  reasonable,  holy,  and  lively 
sacrifice  unto  Him."  The  sacrificial  aspect 
of  the  Holy  Communion  is  thus  the  key  to 
its  significance,  first  as  communicating  to  us 
the  benefits  of  the  Sacrifice  of  Christ,  and 
secondly  as  evoking  from  ourselves  an  answer- 
ing sacrifice.  Rightly  understood,  v^e  prize 
that  aspect  as  of  supreme  value,  and  we  shall 
not  allow  ourselves  to  be  diverted,  by  the 
errors  and  abuses  with  which  it  has  been 
overlaid,  from  asserting  and  cherishing  it. 


Ill 


THE    TRUE    AUTHORITY    IN    MATTERS    OF    CHRISTIAN 
FAITH    AND    PRACTICE 

"  When  He  the  Spirit  of  Truth  is  come,  He  will 
guide  you  into  all  truth." — John  xvi.^  13. 

A  question  which  seems  of  great  practical 


AUTHORITY  237 

consequence  at  the  present  moment  is  that  of 
the  authority   by   which  Christian  men,  and 
especially    Christian    ministers,    ought    to   be 
guided  in  matters  of  faith  and  worship.      It  is 
the  common  impression  of  thoughtful  observers, 
especially  among  men   experienced   in   public 
affairs,  that  our  Church,  at  the  present  moment, 
exhibits  a  painful   aspect  of  anarchy ;  and  if 
that  be  so,  the  reason  probably   is,  not  merely 
that  there  is  an   anarchical  spirit  abroad,  but 
that  there  is  no  general  agreement  as  to  the 
true  standard  of  authority.      Men  and  women 
seem  to  be  feeling  after   some   such   authority 
with  a  dim  instinctive  craving,  and  it  is  their 
very  longing   for   it   that,   too   often,   renders 
them  the  victims  of  the  first  bold  authoritative 
voice  which  asserts  a  claim  over  them.      This  '- 
constitutes,  to  a  large  extent,  the  strength  of 
the    Roman    Catholic    Church,    and    of   that 
section  of  our  own   Church  which   so   nearly     , 
approaches  the  Roman  Church  in  character.      / 
In  each  case,  the  alleged  authority  is  that   of 
the  Church.      In  the   case   of  the  Romanist, 
that  authority  is  plain,  visible  and  accessible. 
The  Roman   Church  is   now  concentrated  in 
the  Pope,  and  every  Bishop  or  Priest  represents 


238  CHURCH  AUTHORITY 

and  enforces  his  authority.  For  the  section 
of  our  own  Church  to  which  I  refer,  there  is 
no  such  visible  and  definite  authority  to  be 
appealed  to ;  but  none  the  less,  the  word 
"  Church,"  and  the  supposed  authority  of  what 
is  called  "  The  Church,"  exercises  an  almost 
magical  influence.  Practices  are  introduced 
among  us,  and  enforced  as  matters  of  moral 
obligation,  on  no  other  ground  than  that  they 
have  the  alleged  authority  of  the  Church. 
Other  practices,  which  have  seemed  to  many 
good  men  not  merely  convenient  and  harmless, 
but  highly  conducive  to  the  maintenance  of 
spiritual  life  among  large  and  laborious  classes, 
are  not  only  discouraged,  but  vehemently 
denounced,  on  no  other  ground  than  the  alleged 
authority  of  the  Church.  Above  all,  a  certain 
system  of  doctrine,  and  a  certain  tone  and 
character  of  worship,  are  alleged  to  be  "  Cath- 
olic," or  in  a  special  sense  characteristic  of 
"  The  Catholic  Church  " ;  and  those  who  do 
not  adopt  this  system  and  these  customs  are 
treated  as  defaulters  to  a  recognised  ideal. 
This  ideal  of  the  Church,  or  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  assumes  an  imposing  shape  in  the 
imagination,    and    Societies    are   formed,   and 


PRIMITIVE  AUTHORITY  239 

religious  newspapers  conducted,  with  the 
definite  object  of  making  this  ideal  supreme 
in  the  English  Church. 

And  yet,  let  me  say  at  once,  there  exists  no 
reality,  and  since  early  times  there  has  existed 
none,  for  which  this  ideal  authority  can  be 
claimed.  For  a  period,  indeed,  which  has 
been  limited  by  the  present  Margaret  Professor 
at  Oxford — no  harsh  judge  on  such  matters — 
to  about  four  centuries  after  Christ,  concluding 
with  the  year  451  a.d.,^  there  was  a  sufficient 
unity  and  continuity  in  the  teaching,  practice, 
and  government  of  the  Church  to  render  it 
possible  to  recognise  that  that  teaching,  prac- 
tice, and  government  had  the  marks  of 
Catholicity.  Such  Catholicity  may  reasonably 
be  pleaded  for  the  allowance  among  us  of 
teaching  and  practice  which  can  be  shown  to 
have  prevailed  within  the  period  in  question  ; 
and  accordingly  our  great  apologist  against  the 
Roman  Church,  Bishop  Jewel,  was  content  to 
stake  the  cause  of  our  Church  on  the  issue 
that  none  of  the  doctrines  and  practices  he 
denounced  could  be  vindicated  by  the  authority 

^  See  Dr.  Sanday's  Letter  in   the  Report  of  the  Fulham 
Conference^  1900,  p,  40. 


240  PRIMITIVE  PRACTICES 

"  of  any  old  Catholic  orator  or  father,  or  out 
of  any  old  general  council,  or  out  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  of  God,  or  any  one  example  of  the 
primitive  Church...  for  the  space  of  six  hun- 
dred years  after  Christ."  At  the  same  time, 
it  cannot  for  a  moment  be  admitted  that  the 
rites  and  ceremonies  then  prevailing  are,  by 
reason  of  their  Catholicity  within  that  period, 
binding  upon  ourselves  now.  Some  of  the 
most  conspicuous  ceremonies  then  practised, 
alike  at  Baptism  and  at  the  Lord's  Supper, 
are  by  general  consent  disused,  and  their  re- 
introduction  would  never  be  suggested,  even 
by  those  who  are  most  urgent  in  asserting  the 
authority  of  the  Catholic  church.  Many  of 
the  early  Canons  are  quite  impracticable 
for  enforcement  among  ourselves;  and  on 
some  important  doctrines,  such  as  the  Atone- 
ment and  the  Resurrection  of  the  body,  views 
were  put  forward,  even  by  Fathers  of  high 
authority,  which  no  English  theologian  of 
any  school  in  the  present  day  would  support. 
The  utmost  that  can  be  justly  said,  respecting 
doctrines  and  practices  which  prevailed  at 
that  period,  is  that  there  is,  prima  facie^  3. 
presumption   in   favour  of  them.      But    even 


THE  VISIBLE  CHURCH  241 

with  respect  to  a  peculiarly  solemn  document, 
the  Creed  of  Chalcedon,  the  Western  Church 
has  not  scrupled,  without  the  authority  of 
any  similar  council,  to  introduce  momentous 
words,  by  which  the  East  has  ever  since  been 
divided  from  the  West.  If  it  be  consistent 
with  due  reverence  for  the  Catholic  authority 
of  the  early  Church  to  modify  its  definition 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  what  statement 
or  ordinance  of  that  Church  can  there  be, 
with  respect  to  which  a  similar  modification 
is  not  permissible  ? 

But  pass  beyond  this  period  of  substantial 
unity  and  Catholicity,  and  where  is  the 
Church,  the  one  visible  Church,  to  whose 
authority  and  voice  we  can  appeal  ?  In  the 
words  of  the  Margaret  Professor,  "  from  the 
date  451  A.D.  onwards  the  Christian  world 
came  to  be  so  broken  up  into  its  several  parts 
that  the  movement  of  the  whole  has  practically 
lost  its  containing  unity.  Although  the  formal 
separation  of  East  and  West  was  delayed,  the 
development  of  each  was  continued  on  more 
and  more  divergent  lines.  "  Before  long,  the 
East  was  actually  divided  from  the  West,  and 
except  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  Roman 

16 


242  THE  CHURCH  DIVIDED 

Catholics,  neither  can  be  said  to  be  "  The 
Church.  "  They  are  divided  halves  of  "  the 
whole  congregation  of  Christian  people  dis- 
persed throughout  the  whole  world,"  and 
neither  of  them  can  claim  that  exclusive 
guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  which  is  the 
necessary  basis  for  any  such  unquestionable 
authority  as  is  tacitly  assumed.  After  some 
six  more  centuries  the  whole  congregation  of 
Christian  people  suffered  another  deep  division; 
and,  since  the  Reformation,  half  of  Christian 
Europe,  and  not  the  least  spiritual  or  least 
enlightened  half,  has  renounced  communion 
with  the  other.  Amidst  these  divided  com- 
munities of  Christian  men,  where,  except  upon 
the  theory  of  the  Romanist,  is  that  Church, 
that  special  Catholic  Church,  to  be  found, 
which  is  to  be  recognised  as  having  a  right  to 
a  predominant  authority  over  all  our  belief 
and  our  practice  ?  Does  it  not  seem  as  if,  in 
the  Providence  of  God,  after  the  Church  had 
once  begun  to  admit  error  in  doctrine  and 
practice,  He  had  allowed  the  fair  unity  of 
the  primitive  Church  to  be  shattered  into 
fragments,  expressly  in  order  to  prevent  men 
falling  into  the  Roman  error,   and  settling  on 


THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH  243 

some  one  visible  community  of  fallible  men  as 
their  supreme  authority,  and  so  supplanting 
an  ideal  by  an  idol  ?  If,  moreover,  an  appeal 
is  to  be  made  to  the  general  authority  of  the 
Christian  Church,  by  what  right  do  you  cut 
out  of  the  continuous  life  of  that  Church  four 
whole  centuries,  since  the  Reformation,  of  the 
history  of  some  of  the  most  vigorous  and 
devoted  Communions  which  the  whole  history 
of  Christianity  can  show?  The  English  Church, 
in  particular,  has  existed  in  this  land  for 
thirteen  centuries.  By  what  right  do  you  cut 
out  of  the  experience  and  example  of  that 
Church  nearly  one-third  of  its  whole  existence, 
the  four  hundred  years  since  the  Reformation, 
and  say  that  they  shall  not  be  taken  into 
account  in  determining  what  Catholic  practices 
and  doctrines  are  ?  This  supposed  Catholic 
Church,  to  which  appeal  is  made  by  the  ex- 
treme High  Churchmen  of  our  day,  is,  except 
so  far  as  it  can  be  identified  with  the  primitive 
Church,  a  phantom  of  the  imagination.  In 
the  mouth  of  the  Romanist,  the  appeal  to  the 
Catholic  Church  has  a  clear  and  definite 
meaning.  To  adapt  Bellarmine's  words  to  the 
present  day,  a  Romanist  appeals   to  a  Com- 


244         AUTHORITY  IN  PRACTICE 

munion  and  an  authority  which  is  as  visible 
and  tangible  as  the  Republic  of  France  or  the 
Kingdom  of  Italy.  But  in  the  mouth  of  an 
English  Churchman,  an  appeal  to  the  Catholic 
Church  is  an  appeal  to  an  authority  which 
does  not  exist  as  a  real  authority,  except  so 
far  as  it  is  an  appeal  to  the  primitive  Church ; 
and  even  that  Church,  as  we  have  seen,  is  not 

sj   an  absolute  authority,  even  in  its  Creeds. 

Where,  then,  are  we  to  look  for  that 
authority  for  which,  as  has  been  said,  men  and 
women  are  so  earnestly  craving  ?  The  answer 
must  be  twofold.  There  are  two  authorities 
to  which  our  allegiance  is  due,  and  due  in 
different  degrees — a  proximate  and  an  ultimate 
authority.     The   proximate  authority  is  that 

J  of  the  branch  of  the  Church  Universal  to  which 
we  ourselves  belong.  On  any  practicable 
principles  of  organisation — on  the  principles 
which  universally  prevailed  in  the  early 
Church — a  man's  first  allegiance  is  due  to  the 
authority  immediately  placed  above  him,  sub- 
ject only  to  an  appeal  to  any  lawful  superior 
authority.  As  an  English  Churchman,  there- 
fore, my  obedience  is  dae,  in  the  first  instance, 
to  my  own   Bishop,  subject  to  the  laws  and 


ENGLISH  AUTHORITY  245 

ordinances  of  the  whole  Church  of  England. 
I  have  a  right  to  appeal  from  him  to  the 
Archbishop  ;  but,  in  the  present  state  of 
the  Church  as  a  whole,  I  have  no  right, 
or  power,  to  appeal  any  further  ;  for  there 
exists  no  living  authority,  and  there  exists  no 
code  of  Church  Law,  to  which,  by  the  Law 
of  God,  the  authorities  of  the  Church  of 
England  are  bound  to  submit  themselves.  The 
ideal,  no  doubt,  of  the  Christian  Church  is 
that  the  whole  congregation  of  Christian  people, 
dispersed  throughout  the  whole  world,  should 
be  so  united  in  Christian  charity,  as  to  be  able 
to  bring  their  united  wisdom  and  spiritual 
experience  together  in  council,  and  thus  to 
guide,  under  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
the  belief  and  the  practice  of  the  various  local 
Churches.  But  no  such  authority  has  existed 
since  the  time  of  the  primitive  authority  already 
mentioned.  No  General  Council  can  possibly  .^ 
be  appealed  to  ;  and  in  the  absence  of  such 
general  authority,  each  Church  must  exercise 
its  own  authority,  on  its  own  responsibility. 
But  this  being  the  case,  the  authority  of  my 
own  Church  is  the  only  one  that  exists  for  me  ; 
and  the  only  way   in  which  I  discharge  the 


246  LIVING  AUTHORITY 

duty  of  obedience  to  those  who  are  set  over  me 
in  the  Lord,  which  is  the  acknowledged  obU- 
gation  of  every  Christian  man,  is  by  dutifully 
submitting  myself  to  this  authority,  so  long  as  it 
requires  nothing  of  me  which  I  may  be  per- 
suaded, on  my  conscience,  is  absolutely  contrary 
to  the  Law  of  God.  The  only  hope  for  the 
establishment  of  order  in  the  Church  at  large 
^  consists  in  the  cultivation  of  the  habit  of 
obedience  to  the  authorities  immediately  over 
us.  To  appeal,  from  that  authority,  to  some 
imaginary  authority  which  has  now  no  real 
existence,  and  which  has  had  none  for  at  least 
1400  years,  is  simply  to  shelter  the  spirit  of 
disobedience  under  an  imaginary  and  fictitious 
ideal. 

But  if  we  thus,  in  the  true  spirit  of  Evan- 
gelical Churchmen,  act  on  the  principle  of 
our  Articles  that  our  own  Church  "  hath 
power  to  decree  rites  and  ceremonies  and 
authority  in  controversies  of  faith  ";  and  if,  in 
,  the  present  divided  state  of  Christendom,  the 
I  sole  responsibility  for  the  exercise  of  that 
power  and  authority  rests  with  our  national 
Church,  acting  by  itself,  it  remains  to  ask,  by 
what  ultimate  authority  is  that  church  itself  to 


AUTHORITY  OF  SCRIPTURE       247 

be  guided  ?  This  is  the  second  point  of  which 
I  spoke  formerly,  as  that  of  the  ultimate 
authority  to  which  our  allegiance  is  due. 
This  question,  however,  is  not  less  clearly 
decided  by  our  Articles  than  the  other.  "  It 
is  not  lawful  "  they  declare,  "  for  the  Church 
to  ordain  anything  that  is  contrary  to  God's 
word  written  ";  and  thus,  "  although  the 
Church  be  a  witness  and  keeper  of  holy  Writ, 
yet,  as  it  ought  not  to  decree  anything  against 
the  same,  so  besides  the  same  ought  it  not  to 
enforce  anything  to  be  believed  for  necessity 
of  salvation  ";  and  again,  "  Holy  Scripture 
containeth  all  things  necessary  to  salvation,  so 
that  whatsoever  is  not  read  therein,  nor  may 
be  proved  thereby,  is  not  to  be  required  of  any 
man  that  it  should  be  believed  as  an  article  of 
faith,  or  be  thought  requisite  or  necessary  to 
salvation.  "  Our  Church  thus  acknowledges 
that  Holy  Scripture  is  the  sole  authority  for 
the  faith  which  she  requires  from  her  members, 
and  that  in  the  practice  she  imposes  on  them 
she  may  not  ordain  anything  that  is  contrary 
to  God's  word  written.  Even  for  the  Creeds, 
as  Dr.  Hawkins  observed  in  his  Bampton 
Lectures,    she   appeals,    not   to   any  authority 


248     THE  CHURCH  AND  SCRIPTURE 

supposed  to  reside  in  the  Catholic  Church,  but 
/to  Scripture  alone.  "The  three  Creeds"  she 
says,  "  ought  thoroughly  to  be  received  and 
believed,  for  they  may  be  proved  by  most 
certain  warrant  of  Holy  Scripture  '\ 

Is  it  not  then  entirely  inconsistent  with 
this  principle  of  our  Church  to  say,  as  is 
constantly  said  by  many  among  us,  that  the 
Prayer  Book  and  Articles  were  to  be  read  and 
interpreted  in  the  light  of  the  belief  and 
practice  of  the  Catholic  Church  ?  Her  prin- 
ciple demands,  on  the  contrary,  that  our 
formularies,  and  more  particularly  our  Articles, 
should  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  Holy 
Scripture,  rather  than  in  that  of  mediaeval 
theology.  In  defence  of  this  reference  to 
what  is  called,  from  the  imaginative  point 
V-of  view  already  spoken  of,  "  the  mind  of  the 
j^^  Church,"  we  are  sometimes  told  that  the  Church 
was  before  the  New  Testament.  In  the  mere 
sense  that  the  Church  was  in  existence  before 
the  New  Testament  was  written,  this  is, 
of  course,  a  mere  truism.  But  in  any  other 
than  this  mere  chronological  sense,  the  state- 
ment is  not  true.  The  men  who  wrote  the 
New  Testament,  were  the  men  who  made  the 


/THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  249 

Church;  and  the  authors  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, representing  the  teaching  of  the  New 
Testament,  were  thus  anterior  to  the  Church,/ 
and  superior  to  it.  The  Old  Testament  existed 
before  the  birth  of  the  Christian  Church;  and 
the  New  Testament  existed  in  Hving  form,  in 
the  persons  of  its  authors,  contemporaneously 
with  the  birth  of  the  Church.  In  point  of 
fact,  as  is  acknowledged  by  a  distinguished 
writer  of  the  High  Church  school,  in  a  re- 
markable volume  recently  published,^  The  New 
Testament  Scriptures  "  represent  the  mind  of  the 
Church  at  its  best  and  freshest  ;  they  represent 
the  utterance  of  its  highest  inspirations.  " 
Consequently,  whatever  value  attaches  to  the 
authority  of  the  Church  "  at  its  best  and 
freshest,"  attaches  to  the  New  Testament,  and 
is  to  be  found  only  there.  But  when  this  writer 
goes  on,  in  the  next  sentence,  to  say,  that 
"  none  the  less  the  spirit  of  the  Church  as  a 
whole  is  the  same  spirit  which  inspired  the 
Apostles";  when  he  accordingly  (p.  241) 
requires  that  "  the  New  Testament  should  be 
read  in  the  light  of  this  ancient  Catholic 
tradition,  "  he  is  taking  away  with  one  hand 

^  The  Body  of  Christy  by  Bishop  Gore,  p.  242. 


250     THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  BIBLE 

what  he  had  given  with  the  other.  After 
Apostolic  times,  though  the  Spirit  of  God  was 
still  at  work  in  the  Church,  the  Church  did 
not  respond  to  the  voice  of  that  Spirit  as  it 
did  in  its  "  best  and  freshest  "  time  ;  and  it 
cannot  be  said  that  the  degree  of  inspiration 
vouchsafed  to  the  Church  as  a  whole  was 
either  of  the  same  kind  or  degree  as  that 
vouchsafed  to  the  Apostles. 

There  is,  therefore,  a  profound  fallacy  in 
the  "  old  formula "  which  this  writer,  like 
others  of  his  school,  would  enforce  upon  us  : — 
"  The  Church  to  teach  :  the  Bible  to  prove." 
Teaching,  no  doubt,  is  the  function  specially- 
assigned  to  the  Church  by  our  Lord's  commis- 
sion, "  Go  ye  and  teach  all  nations."  But  if 
the  Church  would  fulfil  aright  her  mission  of 
teaching,  she  must  first  herself  be  taught  of 
God  ;  and  the  only  means  by  which  she  can 
receive  that  teaching  is  through  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit 
of  God.  The  Bible  is  not  to  be  kept  in  the 
background,  as  a  document  to  be  referred  to 
for  the  proof  of  doctrines,  as  a  witness  is  called 
into  court  for  the  purpose  of  some  special 
piece  of  evidence.      It  must,  on  the  contrary, 


TRUE  CHURCHMANSHIP  251 

be  our  constant  teacher,  the  one  perpetual 
source  of  our  knowledge  of  Divine  things, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit  who  inspired 
it,  and  who  is  ever  at  hand  to  illuminate  the 
hearts  and  minds  of  those  who  seek  His  aid  in 
prayer,  and  who  look  up  to  Him  as  the  guide 
of  every  Christian  into  all  the  truth.  If  to  be 
called  Low  Churchmen  means  that  we  look  to 
the  Bible  as  an  authority  anterior  to  the  Church, 
and  still  superior  to  it,  we  have  no  occasion 
to  shrink  from  the  name.  But  if  it  be  under- 
stood to  mean  that  we  are  indifferent  to  Church 
authority  and  Church  organisation,  we  repudiate 
it  with  a  clear  conscience.  We  are  loyal  to 
the  only  Church  authority  which  is  accessible 
to  us — loyal  to  the  authority  of  our  Prayer 
Book  and  our  Articles  ;  loyal  to  the  ecclesias- 
tical authorities  to  whom  the  interpretation  of 
those  formularies  and  the  administration  of 
our  Church  are  committed  ;  and  loyal  also  in 
seeking  in  the  Scriptures,  as  the  supreme  source 
of  authority,  the  spirit  and  the  meaning  of 
those  formularies,  and  of  the  Church  system 
which  we  have  inherited.  It  is  by  steadfast 
adherence  to  these  principles,  by  loyal  and 
cheerful  obedience   to  those  set  over  us  in  the 


/ 


252  TRUE  CHURCHMANSHIP 

Lord  and  to  the  teaching  of  the  Church  to 
which  we  belong  and  by  a  faithful  and  prayerful 
endeavour  to  live  in  the  light  of  those  Scrip- 
tures to  which  our  Church  has  absolutely 
submitted  herself — it  is  by  such  means  as  these 
that  we  hope  to  remove  the  anarchy  by  which 
we  are  at  present  menaced,  and  to  realise,  in 
our  own  Communion  at  all  events,  the  unity 
for  which  our  Saviour  prayed. 


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